Longitude 


American  CommontDcalt^ 
KENTUCKY 

A  PIONEER  COMMONWEALTH 

BY 

N.  S.  SHALER 


BOSTON 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

New  York:   11  East  Seventeenth  Street 

(Ctc  fitocvsi&e  IDrcss,  £am{>ii&0e 

1885 


589G4 


Copyright,  1884, 
By  N.  S.  SIIALER. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge : 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  II.  0.  Houghton  &  Co. 


3- 


PREFACE. 


The  following  account  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Kentucky  is  designed  to  give  the  general  reader  a  short 
story  of  the  development  of  that  State.  The  reader 
will  kindly  observe  that  it  is  not  entitled  a  history ; 
the  writer  desires  to  disclaim  the  intention  of  writing 
anything  that  could  be  fairly  termed  a  history  of  his 
native  State.  Such  a  work  would,  when  properly  done, 
require  the  space  of  several  such  volumes  and  a  large 
amount  of  special  research,  which  it  has  not  been  in 
the  power  of  the  present  writer  to  give  to  his  task ; 
it  is  the  main  aim  of  this  little  book  to  set  forth  the 
history  of  the  motives  that  have  led  the  people  in  the 
shaping  of  their  Commonwealth,  using  only  so  much  of 
the  incidents  of  their  life  as  seemed  necessary  to  make 
these  motives  clear. 

Fortunately  for  this  work,  previous  writers  have 
made  extensive  and  generally  careful  compilations, 
which  give  fuller  annals  of  the  Commonwealth  than 
have  been  secured  for  any  other  State,  except,  per- 
haps, for  Massachusetts.  Chief  among  these  is  Col- 
lius's  Historical  Sketches  of  Kentucky,  entitled  "  His- 


yi  PREFACE. 

tory  of  Kentucky,  by  the  late  Lewis  Collins.  Revised, 
enlarged  fourfold,  and  brought  down  to  the  year  1874, 
by  his  son  Richard  H.  Collins,  A.  M.,  LL.  B.,"  two 
volumes,  large  8vo,  pp.  683  and  804.  Covington,  Ky., 
1874.  This  remarkable  work  embodies  as  much  pa- 
tient labor  as  has  ever  been  given  to  the  history  of 
any  American  State,  but  the  multitude  and  variety  of 
the  facts  brought  together  make  it  rather  a  store-house 
of  information  than  a  feast  that  invites  the  reader. 

The  present  writer  has  made  very  extensive  use  of 
the  material  gathered  by  Collins.  Credit  is  generally 
given  in  the  foot-notes  for  the  points  presented  by  this 
history ;  but  it  is  due  to  the  writers  of  that  work  to 
say  that  this  account  of  Kentucky  could  not  have 
been  written  but  for  their  admirable  labors. 

Besides  this  extensive  series  of  annals  there  are  at 
least  a  dozen  other  works  that  have  a  varied  value  to 
the  student  of  Kentucky  history.  Of  these  the  follow- 
ing may  be  noted  for  the  guidance  of  students  who 
desire  to  go  further  into  the  subject :  — 

1.  John  Filson :  "  Discovery,  Settlement,  and  Pres- 
ent State  of  Kentucke."  Wilmington,  Del.,  1784.  Re- 
printed in  England  in  1792,  1793,  and  1797.  Trans- 
lated into  French  and  published  at  Paris  in  1785. 
Filson  was  killed  by  the  Indians  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Miami  River  in  1788.  The  book  is  principally  inter- 
esting on  account  of  its  map  and  for  the  personal  re- 
miniscences of  Daniel  Boone.  It  laid  the  foundations 
of  Boone's  enduring  reputation  as  a  hero  of  western 
life. 


PREFACE.  Vil 

2.  William  Littell :  "  Political  Transactions  in  and 
concerning  Kentucky."  12mo,  p.  147.  Frankfort,  Ky., 
1806.  Is  only  known  to  the  present  writer  by  title. 
It  is  an  excessively  rare  book.1 

3.  Humphrey  Marshall :  "  The  History  of  Kentucky, 
including  an  Account  of  the  Discovery,  Settlement,  Pro- 
gressive Improvement,  Political  and  Military  Events, 
and  Present  State  of  the  Country."  2  vols.  8vo,  pp. 
522  and  524.  Frankfort,  Ky.  First  volume  in  1812  ; 
second  volume  in  1824.  This  is  an  excellent  history 
in  many  respects,  but  is  extremely  Federalistic  in  tone, 
and  exceedingly  unjust  to  those  who  differed  from  the 
author  in  politics. 

4.  Mann  Butler  :  "  History  of  Kentucky  from  its  Ex- 
ploration and  Settlement  by  the  Whites  to  the  close  of 
the  Southwestern  Campaign  of  1813."  12mo,  pp.  396. 
Louisville,  1834.     Second  edition,  Cincinnati,  1836. 

The  reader  may  advantageously  consult  the  following 
works :  "  History  of  the  First  Kentucky  Brigade  (Con- 
federate), by  Ed.  Porter  Thompson."  Cincinnati,  1868 ; 
"History  of  Morgan's  Cavalry,  by  Basil  W.  Duke." 
Cincinnati,  1867. 

There  are  several  other  works  of  less  importance,  an 
account  of  which  may  be  found  in  Collins's  "  History," 
vol.  i.  p.  639,  where  also  will  be  found  a  fuller  account 
of  the  aforementioned  works,  with  sketches  of  the  lives 
of  their  authors. 

The  writer  has  to  acknowledge  his  great  obligation 
1  See  Collins,  vol.  i.  p.  640. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

to  many  Kentucky  friends  for  their  aid  and  counsel  in 
the  preparation  of  this  work.  He  is  especially  indebted 
to  General  William  Preston,  Colonel  J.  Stoddard  John- 
ston, Colonel  W.  C.  P.  Breckinridge,  Colonel  John 
Mason  Brown,  and  Hon.  W.  C.  Goodloe,  formerly  offi- 
cers of  the  Confederate  and  Federal  armies  ;  to  Captain 
L.  R.  Hawthorne,  formerly  of  the  Eighteenth  Kentucky 
Infantry;  to  R.  T.  Durrett,  Esq.,  and  Thomas  Speed, 
Esq.,  Louisville;  to  S.  I.  M.  Major,  Esq.,  of  Frankfort; 
to  Grant  Green,  Esq.,  and  to  the  Hon.  Fayette  Hewitt, 
auditor  of  the  Commonwealth.  It  should  be  said,  how- 
ever, that  none  of  these  gentlemen  are  in  any  way  re- 
sponsible for  the  opinions  set  forth  in  this  book. 

It  is  fit  that  the  reader  should  know  that  the  writer, 
a  native  of  Kentucky,  was  a  Unionist  during  the  war. 
But  while  his  opinions  have  the  color  given  by  his 
political  position,  he  believes  that  he  has  in  most  cases 
done  substantial  justice  to  his  friends,  the  enemy  of 
that  unhappy  yet  glorious  time.  If  injustice  has  been 
done,  he  can  only  plead  in  extenuation  that  he  sin- 
cerely feels  that  the  honor  won  by  the  Confederate 
heroes  is  as  dear  to  him  as  the  fame  of  those  who  were 
on  his  own  side.  No  one  can  write  a  thoroughly  un- 
biased account  of  a  civil  war  in  which  he  took  any 
part  whatever.  The  trials  of  such  days  stamp  them- 
selves indelibly  on  the  mind.  We  shall  have  to  wait 
until  the  generation  which  fought  the  war  has  entirely 
passed  away  before  even-handed  justice  can  be  done 
to  the  men  who  were  engaged  in  it. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Introduction 1 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Planting  of  Virginia 6 

CHAPTER  II. 
Government  of  the  Virginia  People  .        .        .        .13 

CHAPTER   III. 
The  Physical  Conditions  of  Kentucky  ...        24 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Geology  of  Kentucky 35 

CHAPTER   V. 
The  First  Kentuckians 45 

CHAPTER  VI. 
First  Explorations  of  Kentucky  .        .        .        .53 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Early  Settlements 67 

CHAPTER  Vni. 
Separation  from  Virginia 93 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Commonwealth  and  its  Problems     .        .        .      121 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   X. 

PAGE 

Kentucky  and  the  Federal  Government    .        .        .  131 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Beginning  of  the  Century         ....      147 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  War  of  1812 158 

CHAPTER   XIII. 
From  the  War  of  1812  to  the  War  with  Mexico  .  172 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

From  the  Beginning  of  the  Mexican  War  to  the 

Beginning  of  the  Rebellion 200 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Beginning  of  the  Civil  War    ....      231 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

From  the  Abandonment  of  Neutrality  to  the  Fall 
of  Fort  Donelson 257 

CHAPTER   XVII. 

From   the   Evacuation  of  Kentucky  in  February, 

1862,  to  the  Battle  of  Perry ville    .         .         .       282 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  Closing  Stages  of  the  Civil  War  .        .        .      331 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  End  of  the  War 345 

CHAPTER   XX. 
The  Struggle  for  Civil  Government      .        .        .      358 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The  New  Commonwealth 392 

Appendix 409 

Index 429 


KENTUCKY : 

A   PIONEER   COMMONWEALTH. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  States  of  this  Federal  Union  are,  by  the  con- 
ditions  of  their  origin,  divided  into  three  groups  :  first, 
those  that  were  directly  colonized  from  the  Old  "World ; 
next,  those  that  were  immediate  outgrowths  from  par- 
ticular colonies,  deriving  their  blood  and  institutions  ex- 
clusively from  one  of  the  original  colonies  ;  and,  lastly, 
the  States  that  are  the  product  of  a  miscellaneous  im- 
migration, and  do  not  owe  their  existence  to  any  one 
of  the  original  sources  of  population.  The  second  class 
of  Commonwealths  is  the  least  numerous  among  our 
States.  Circumstances  rarely  favored  the  settlement  of 
a  new  territory,  great  enough  to  become  a  separate 
State,  from  the  surplus  population  of  one  district  alone. 
In  a  fashion,  Maine  and  New  Hampshire  are  the  chil- 
dren of  Massachusetts,  but  each  of  these  States  has  had 
its  independent  colonization  from  abroad,  and  a  large 
mixture  of  blood  from  other  regions.  Kentucky  alone 
is  fairly  to  be  called  the  child  of  another  Common- 
wealth. She  owes  to  Virginia  the  most  of  the  people  she 
received  during  the  half  century  when  her  society  was 
taking  shape ;  her  institutions,  be  they  good  or  evil,  her 


2  KENTUCKY. 

ideals  of  life,  her  place  in  the  nation's  history,  are  all 
as  immediately  derived  from  her  great  mother  Virginia 
as  are  an  individual  man's  from  the  mother  who  bore 
him. 

The  population  that  came  to  Kentucky  from  other 
States,  and  the  institutions  of  other  States  in  the  way 
of  laws,  customs,  etc.,  had  an  introduction  after  the 
formative  period  of  the  Commonwealth,  so  that  they 
have  remained  as  foreign  elements  compared  with  the 
deep-rooted  qualities  derived  from  the  Virginian  an- 
cestry. 

This  singleness  of  origin  of  the  Kentucky  population 
makes  it  easier  and  more  profitable  to  trace  its  history 
than  that  of  any  other  Commonwealth,  except  those 
originally  planted  on  the  sea-board.  Its  history  goes 
back  to  that  of  the  parent  State  even  more  directly  than 
that  of  America  to  Britain.  It  will  therefore  be  neces- 
sary, in  order  to  find  the  foundations  of  Kentucky's 
life,  for  us  to  trace  in  outline  the  history  of  the  Vir- 
ginia people,  so  far,  at  least,  as  it  may  serve  to  show  us 
the  source  of  the  nature  and  motives  of  the  folk  that 
founded  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky. 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  see  in  the  history  of  any 
people  the  forces  that  have  made  them  what  they  are. 
The  natural  operations  of  a  wholesome  society  imper- 
fectly reveal  themselves  to  the  observer ;  like  the  func- 
tions of  the  well-conditioned  individual  body,  they  lie 
hidden  beneath  the  surface.  It  is  rather  the  diseased 
states  of  the  body  politic,  the  perturbations  of  function 
marked  in  the  maladies  of  a  Commonwealth,  that  be- 
come matters  of  history. 

In  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  that  elapsed  be- 
tween the  first  settlement  of  Virginia  and  the  settlement 


INTRODUCTION.  o 

of  Kentucky,  the  English  folk  of  the  Elizabethan  colony- 
underwent  many  important  changes,  most  of  which  are 
known  to  us  only  by  their  results.  The  organic  history 
of  this  body  of  people  during  that  time  is  most  imper- 
fectly known  to  us.  What  we  know  of  their  formative 
processes  is  trifling  compared  with  our  knowledge  of 
those  actions  in  the  New  England  States.  In  New 
England  the  historic  sense  was  from  the  first  much 
stronger,  and  the  methods  of  life  were  far  more  favor- 
able to  the  preservation  of  historic  materials.  These 
States  were  founded  with  intellectual  purposes  and  by 
educated  men,  who  brought  a  definite  theory  of  life 
with  them,  and  from  the  first  set  up  a  strong  social  sys- 
tem that  differed  widely  from  that  of  the  mother  coun- 
try. These  founders  represented  the  extremest  notions 
of  the  Protestant  reformation,  and  they  sacrificed  all  of 
their  inheritance  that  it  was  possible  for  men  to  sacri- 
fice, in  order  to  give  their  new  plan  of  life  control  of 
all  their  actions.  Never  have  colonies  so  deliberately 
tried  to  separate  themselves  from  the  past  of  their  race. 
Starting  with  a  most  definite  theory  of  their  church 
state,  they  proceeded  to  bend  all  their  energies  to  the 
preservation  of  their  ideals.  For  a  century  immigra- 
tion was  limited  as  far  as  possible  to  their  own  sort  of 
people.  In  this  rigid  world  there  was  little  chance  of 
free  development  of  the  spontaneous  growth  of  the  race 
qualities.  The  result  was  a  truly  wonderful  society, 
but  one  that  shows  a  wide  divergence  from  the  parent 
stem.  We  shall  do  well  to  compare  these  conditions  of 
the  typical  New  England  colony  with  those  of  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina. 

First  let  us  notice  the  broad  distinction  between  the 
initial  motives  that  led  to  these   two  diverse  kinds  of 


4  KENTUCKY. 

settlements.  While  New  England  was,  in  a  way,  the  off- 
spring of  the  Protestant  revolution,  —  the  greatest  and 
most  beneficent  intellectual  movement  that  Europe  has 
ever  known,  —  the  Virginia  settlement  and  that  of  the 
colonies  were,,  at  the  outset,  purely  commercial  enter- 
prises. What  there  was  of  faith  in  the  inception  of 
their  history  was  accidental  and  of  a  transitory  nature. 
The  commercial  element  of  the  Elizabethan  period  is 
overshadowed  in  history  by  the  more  attractive  features 
of  its  intellectual  and  moral  development.  It  is  easy 
to  see,  however,  that  commercialism  was  then  as  intense 
an  element  in  the  national  life  of  England  as  it  has 
ever  been  in  any  other  time  or  place.  Gold  hunger 
and  land  hunger  seem  to  have  been  at  the  root  of  all 
the  national  achievements.  Glory  was  more  an  inci- 
dent to  gain  than  it  is  now.  From  the  plays  of  Shake- 
speare to  the  buccaneer  exploits  of  Raleigh,  money  gain 
was  the  leading  motive  of  the  national  life. 

The  dawning  splendors  of  success  won  by  the  East 
India  Company  awoke  the  quick  imaginations  of  that 
time.  All  the  new-found  shadowy  world  of  the  west 
seemed  full  of  such  possible  gains  as  the  Indian  Com- 
pany was  securing.  Merchants  and  nobles  made  haste 
to  organize  companies  to  win  a  like  gain  out  of  these 
vast  unexplored  lands.  A  large  share  of  the  scanty 
capital  of  that  time  was  embarked  in  adventurous 
schemes  of  colonization  and  conquest,  and  to  one  of 
these  fell  the  region  which  took  its  name  from  Eng- 
land's manly  queen. 

As  the  conditions  of  the  Virginia  settlement  and  its 
subsequent  history  were  profoundly  affected  by  the 
scheme  of  its  colonization,  it  will  be  necessary  for  us 
to  glance  at  these  initial  stages  of  its  growth.    We  shall 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

then  see,  in  brief,  the  history  of  its  subsequent  develop- 
ment up  to  the  time  when  the  Kentucky  people  left 
this  region  to  begin  their  new  life.  It  will  not  be  nec- 
essary to  burden  ourselves  with  any  details  of  the 
Virginia  life  that  have  not  served  to  give  to  its  chil- 
dren their  jjeculiar  qualities  ;  nor  can  we  hope  to  see 
these  formative  influences  except  in  merest  outline. 
As  before  remarked,  it  is  at  best  difficult  to  trace  the 
organic  history  of  a  people  ;  nowhere  in  America  is 
the  task  so  difficult  as  in  Virginia,  a  region  of  scanty 
and  neglected  records,  where  men  were  more  given  to 
action  than  to  recording  their  deeds,  and  where  the 
historic  sense  has  never  been  developed  as  it  has  been 
in  Massachusetts,  where  it  is  and  long  has  been  pecu- 
liarly active. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    PLANTING    OF    VIRGINIA. 

The  first  Virginia  company  was  organized  in  1606, 
seven  years  after  and  upon  the  same  model  as  the  or- 
ganization of  the  trading  association  that  grew  to  be 
the  East  India  Company.  This  Virginia  company, 
though  its  strength  lay  in  its  merchant  element,  had 
its  share  of  heroes  of  the  large,  bold,  adventurous  sort 
of  the  Elizabethan  type.  Sir  George  Somers,  one  of 
the  commanders  in  the  capture  of  San  Jago  de  Leon, 
and  Hakluyt,  the  historian  of  northern  adventure  and 
a  man  full  of  the  heroism  of  his  time,  were  among  its 
influential  men.  The  patent  of  this  company  gave  all 
needed  commercial  powers  with  a  free  hand.  If 
parchments  could  make  a  State,  Virginia  would  have 
sprung  at  once  into  a  vigorous  life  under  the  control 
of  these  enthusiastic  adventurers.  But  while  giving 
much,  the  crafty  King  James  withheld  from  the  cor- 
poration the  sovereign  power  which  came  by  circum- 
stances to  the  East  Iudian  Company,  and  which  was 
most  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  any  distant  col- 
ony in  those  times. 

This  purely  business  venture  of  the  first  Virginia 
company  was  a  chronic  failure  from  the  beginning, 
though  it  had  a  precarious  life  of  eighteen  years.  Mis- 
government  in  the  colony,  dissensions  in  the  company, 
the  generally  worthless   character  of  the  settlers,  and 


THE  PLANTING   OF   VIRGINIA.  7 

the  effort  to  create  something  like  a  feudal  hind  ten- 
ure brought  this  experiment  to  an  end.  For  our  pur- 
pose we  have  only  to  note  that  its  results  on  the  Vir- 
ginia character  were  essentially  negative,  hut  for  all 
that  valuable;  they  made  it  clear  that  a  good  class  of 
settlers  was  necessary  to  found  a  prosperous  colony, 
but  such  could  be  obtained  only  by  a  fee  simple  land 
tenure,  and  that  such  a  settlement  could  not  be  governed 
by  a  corporation  resident  in  London,  but  must  have  a 
share  of  self-government.  These  were  lessons  fruitful 
of  good  results  for  the  future  of  the  colony. 

With  the  final  dissolution  of  the  company  in  1624, 
Virginia  entered  on  the  truly  formative  period  of  its 
growth.  This  change  from  the  control  of  a  corporation 
to  the  government  of  the  crowu  took  place  before  any 
considerable  part  of  the  Virginia  blood  was  yet  upon 
the  soil.  After  the  expulsion  of  the  company,  settle- 
ment went  on  more  rapidly.  The  early  expectations  of 
wealth  from  gold  mines  and  from  commerce  with  the 
Indians  had  been  dispelled.  Never  an  ounce  of  gold 
was  found  (at  least  until  after  the  colonial  period),  and 
the  district  was  too  far  south  for  the  more  valuable  furs. 
It  was  soon  seen  that  the  only  resources  were  from 
agriculture  and  the  shipment  of  timber,  for  which  Eng- 
land then,  as  now,  offered  a  large  market.  It  is  princi- 
pally to  the  introduction  of  tobacco  into  the  markets 
of  Europe  that  Virginia  owes  its  place  in  history.  This 
plant  began  to  be  tilled  during  the  government  by  the 
company,  but  during  the  period  when  Virginia  was  a 
crown  colony  its  importance  increased  by  leaps  and 
bounds  so  that  it  soon  became  the  foundation  of  her 
prosperity.  The  rapid  development  of  the  habit  of 
usinw   tobacco,  —  America's  most  welcomed   <rift  to  the 


8  KENTUCKY. 

Old  World,  —  the  large  profits  that  it  offered  to  the 
tillers  of  the  soil,  led,  in  the  first  place,  to  a  large  im- 
migration from  England  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  to 
the  wide  scattering  of  the  population  along  the  tide- 
water district  of  the  colony,  and  inland  as  far  as  the 
eastern  slopes  of  the  Blue  Ridge. 

The  character  of  these  new-comers  has  long  heen  a 
matter  of  discussion.  With  a  natural  pride,  some  Vir- 
ginia enthusiasts  have  claimed  that  the  population  con- 
sisted very  largely  of  gentlemen,  while  some  calumnia- 
tors of  this  people  have  striven  to  prove  that  it  was 
mainly  composed  of  the  more  worthless  folk  of  the 
mother  country.  There  is,  unfortunately,  no  such  clear 
evidence  concerning  the  nature  of  the  j)eople  that 
founded  this  State  as  we  have  concerning  the  people 
of  the  New  England  colonies.  Putting  together  the 
stores  of  information  that  are  at  hand,  we  find  good 
proof  that  the  strength  of  the  immigration  consisted  of 
the  yeoman  and  squire  class  ;  next  in  numbers  were 
the  destitute  and  semi-criminal  class,  who  were  sold  into 
temporary  service  to  pay  their  fines  and  the  costs  of 
their  transportation  to  the  colony  ;  and  for  a  while, 
least  in  numbers,  the  Africans,  who  were  sold  into  per- 
manent slavery :  of  this  class  we  shall  learn  more  when 
we  come  to  consider  their  share  in  the  development  and 
in  the  retardation  of  development  in  Virginia  and  of 
Kentucky.  At  this  moment  we  may  only  note  that  the 
presence  of  persons  held  to  service  should  not  be  re- 
garded as  characteristic  of  Virginia,  implying  a  pecu- 
liar tone  of  social  life  in  this  colony.  The  institution 
of  African  slavery  was  common  at  this  time  to  all  the 
colonies,  and  did  not  differ  essentially  from  the  con- 
ditions of  enforced  service  in  Europe.     African  slavery 


THE  PLANTING   OF   VIRGINIA.  9 

was  in  no  essential  way  different  from  the  other  slavery 
so  common  in  the  earlier  days.  Even  down  to  1830 
England  tamely  submitted  to  the  enslavement  of  her 
own  citizens  by  the  Barbary  powers. 

The  geographical  conditions  of  Virginia  were  sin- 
gularly favorable  for  the  rapid  extension  of  population 
over  a  large  area.  A  glance  at  any  sufficient  map  of 
this  region  will  show  the  reader  that  the  colonial  part 
consists  in  the  main  of  a  very  broad  shore  plain,  with 
a  nearly  flat  surface,  extending  from  the  coast  of  the 
Chesapeake  to  the  higher  land  at  the  eastern  slope  of 
the  Blue  Ridge.  This  plain  averages  about  one  hun- 
dred miles  in  width,  and  includes  an  area  of  several 
thousand  square  miles,  —  equal  to  at  least  one  fourth 
of  the  surface  of  England.  This  region  is  singularly 
intersected  by  deep  tide-water  inlets,  which  afford  navi- 
gable waters  with  many  thousand  miles  of  shore  line. 
The  lands  near  these  tide  waters  are  fairly  fertile, 
though  somewhat  malarious.  They  were  easily  cleared 
with  the  axe  and  fire,  and  were  then  ready  for  the 
plough.  There  was  no  coating  of  boulders  which  served 
to  retard,  and  still  retards,  the  development  of  New 
England  agriculture.  These  water-ways  dispensed  with 
the  cost  of  an  extensive  road  system,  one  of  the  cardinal 
difficulties  in  every  new  State.  The  Piedmont  district, 
on  the  table-laud  at  the  eastern  face  of  the  Blue  Ridge, 
was  everywhere  within  convenient  reach  of  these  fiord- 
like inlets,  so  that  even  there  there  was  less  trouble 
with  road-making  than  has  been  encountered  in  any 
other  American  State. 

In  the  century  from  1G25  to  1725  there  was  a  steady 
but  not  great  immigration  from  England  and  southern 
Scotland ;  little  other  blood  was  introduced  into  the  col- 


10  KENTUCKY. 

ony.  Then  came  a  few  Huguenot  French,  after  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  ;  hut  the  numbers  of 
this  people  who  settled  in  Virginia  were  less  than  came 
to  Massachusetts,  to  New  York,  or  to  South  Carolina. 
After  1725  the  stream  of  new-comers  grew  less  ;  the 
best  lands  were  possessed,  and  the  chances  for  colonists 
was  less  good  than  before.  There  was  only  one  notable 
immigration  from  abroad  after  the  last-named  date.  This 
came  with  the  remarkable  exodus  of  Scotch  after  the 
rebellion  of  1745.  A  large  part  of  this  folk  went  to 
South  Carolina,  but  Virginia  received  an  immigration 
of  several  thousand  of  these  wanderers,  who  took  up 
land  in  and  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge,  principally  in  Am- 
herst, Augusta,  and  Rockbridge  counties. 

This  was,  in  all  respects,  the  most  important  contri- 
bution ever  made  to  the  Virginia  population.  Exiles 
for  opinion's  sake,  principally  of  Calvinist  belief,  they 
brought  to  the  Old  Dominion  something  of  the  spirit 
that  glorified,  even  while  it  darkened,  the  early  history 
of  New  England.  We  may  find  the  spirit  of  this  peo- 
ple in  every  signal  event  in  the  history  of  the  Virginia 
populations.  They  were  a  strength  to  Virginia  in  the 
Revolution,  and  their  children  gave  character  to  the 
army  of  Jackson  in  the  Civil  War.  They  have  fur- 
nished many  of  the  prominent  business  men  of  the  State. 

From  the  palatinate  German  settlements  in  Pennsyl- 
vania there  was,  in  the  last  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury and  the  first  years  of  this,  a  certain  amount  of 
immigration  into  Virginia.  These  people  were  mainly 
settled  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley, 
and  were  never  numerous  enough  to  constitute  any  im- 
portant element  in   the  Virginia  population.1 

1  A  small  portion  of  the   settlers    in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  were 


THE  PLANTING   OF   VIRGINIA.  11 

This  glance  at  the  sources  of  population  in  Virginia 
is  sufficient  to  show  that,  with  the  exception  of  the 
slaves,  they  came  almost  entirely  from  the  truly  British 
people.  This  character  it  essentially  retains  to  the  pres- 
ent day.  At  the  time  of  the  Kentucky  settlement  it 
retained  it  almost  altogether. 

We  shall  have  to  consider  one  point  concerning  the 
character  of  this  Virginia  hlood.  Although  coming  from 
the  British  mother  country,  its  origin  was  in  many  ways 
different  from  that  of  the  people  who  settled  the  Massa- 
chusetts colonies.  The  settlers  of  Massachusetts  were, 
in  the  main,  from  the  towns  of  Britain :  they  were  much 
more  generally  trained  to  the  arts,  and  less  to  agricul- 
ture, than  the  Virginia  settlers  ;  a  larger  portion  of  them 
were  educated  men.  They  were  by  hahit  a  more  social 
or  perhaps  a  more  gregarious  people.  This  is  shown 
in  their  settlements,  which  took  the  shape  of  villages, 
and  did  not  lead  to  the  settling  of  the  folk  in  isolated 
farm-houses,  as  was  already  the  custom  of  the  rural 
English.  In  Virginia  the  colonists  were  principally 
from  the  country  districts  of  England.  Their  absorhing 
passion  was  not  for  religious  discussions  ;  it  was  for  the 
possession  of  land,  for  the  occupations  and  diversions 
of  rural  life.  When  their  interests  were  involved  they 
tended  not  to  religious  disputations,  but  to  politics.  This 
appetite  for  land  seems  never  to  have  been  a  part  of 
the  New  England  desires ;  in  Virginia  and  Kentucky^ 
it  was  the  ruling  passion.     We  find  the  early  laws  of 

the  descendants  of  the  Hessian  soldiers  who  were  left  in  this  country 
at  the  end  of  the  Revolution.  It  is  reported  that  Washington,  who 
had  large  holdings  of  lands  in  this  valley,  induced  a  numher  of  these 
forlorn  folk  to  settle  there,  furnishing  them  means  for  their  start  in 
life  and  to  bring  their  families  to  this  country.  I  have  this  impor- 
tant statement  from  Major  Hotehkiss,  of  Staunton,  Virginia. 


12  KENTUCKY. 

Virginia  formed  to  keep  the  people  in  close  communi- 
ties, for  the  purpose  of  better  defense  against  the  In- 
dians; but  the  danger  from  the  savages,  though  always 
imminent,  was  not  enough  to  deter  the  scattering  of  the 
immigrants  in  their  search  for  large  landed  possessions. 
There  is  no  element  in  the  social  differences  of  these 
two  populations  so  prominent  or  so  instructive  as  this. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  these  Virginia  colo- 
nists were  a  fair  representation  of  the  people  of  the 
mother  country.  Though  perhaps  less  intellectual,  less 
thrifty,  less  active-minded,  than  the  settlers  of  New 
England,  they  were  from  the  strength  of  the  English 
soil,  a  folk  bred  in  the  open  fields  from  all  time,  rich 
in  the  noblest  instincts  of  their  strong  race  ;  perhaps 
too  much  without  the  culture  of  towns,  too  kittle  leav- 
ened with  scholars,  too  little  stimulated  by  religious  dis- 
putations for  their  best  intellectual  life,  but  none  the 
less  good  seed  for  the  State. 

In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  consider  some  of  the 
circumstances  of  the  development  of  this  people  during 
the  century  and  a  half  preceding  that  migration  to  the 
west  which  founded  Kentucky  and  several  other  States 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  We  are  limited  to  the  merest 
outlines,  but  though  the  development  of  a  people  is 
always  a  difficult  matter  to  set  forth,  it  is  simpler 
here  than  usual. 


CHAPTER  TI. 

GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    VIRGINIA    PEOPLE. 

Colonial  Virginia  may  be  divided  into  two  areas, 
AVe  have  first  the  vast  obscurely-bounded  domain  em- 
braced in  the  original  grant,  and  continued  by  the  royal 
charters.  This  included  not  only  the  whole  of  Virginia 
as  it  is  now  shown  on  the  map,  but  all  of  West  Vir- 
ginia, Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  in  the  terms  of  the  charter 
everything  westward  to  the  Mississippi,  and  as  much 
further  as  the  colony  had  a  mind  to  claim.  Those  were 
the  plenteous  days  when  empires  were  to  be  had  for  the 
asking.  The  Virginia  that  became  the  mother  of  States 
was  a  little  part  of  this  vast  domain  between  the  Alle- 
ghany Mountains  and  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  Taking  it 
for  all  in  all,  it  was  probably  the  most  fortunate  posi- 
tion for  a  colony  that  the  continent  afforded  :  a  soil  easily 
subdued ;  of  fair  productiveness,  well  suited  to  a  wide 
range  of  crops;  a  good  milk  and  grain  country;  a  cli- 
mate that  invites  to  rural  and  to  an  open  air  life.  The 
seat  of  no  climatic  diseases,  it  was  the  most  favorable 
cradle  for  a  vigorous  race  that  existed  near  the  Atlantic 
sea-board.  It  has  been  remarkably  free  from  famines 
and  pestilences.  It  had  the  mingled  good  and  ill  for- 
tune to  develop  the  peculiar  agriculture  of  the  tobacco 
crop,  which  secured  a  means  of  gaining  a  degree  of 
wealth  that  was  obtainable  in  no  other  way,  though  in 
return  it  gave  a  permanence  to  the  institution  of  slavery 


14  KENTUCKY. 

that  was  not  found  in  the  region  to  the  northward.  The 
relations  of  the  settlers  with  the  Indian  trihes  were,  on 
the  whole,  rather  hetter  than  in  the  more  northern  re- 
gions of  the  Atlantic  coast,  although  there  were  several 
massacres  and  the  usual  border  warfare  with  the  indige- 
nous people.  These  were  not  so  desperate  or  so  long 
continued  as  in  the  settlements  north  of  the  Delaware. 
The  Indians  in  this  district  were  probably  even  fewer  in 
number  than  in  New  England,  and  less  warlike. 

The  mountain  range  of  the  Alleghanies  on  the  west 
protected  colonial  Virginia  from  the  fiercer  tribes  of  the 
Ohio  Valley,  and  the  danger  from  the  savages  was  never 
great  enough  to  prevent  the  development  of  the  rural 
spirit,  the  scattering  of  the  population  in  the  separated 
plantations,  which  is  the  characteristic  of  Virginia  coun- 
try life.  The  introduction  and  swift  development  of 
slavery  quickly  brought  about  an  important  distinction 
in  the  elements  of  the  whole  population.  The  caste  of 
slave-owners  became  strongly  separated  from  that  of 
the  poor  whites.  The  wealth  and  power  of  the  popu- 
lation rapidly  accumulated  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
amassed  or  inherited  capital,  while  the  poor  whites  sank 
into  an  inferior  position,  became  in  a  way  dependent  on 
the  slave-holding  caste,  or  were  pushed  on  to  the  lands 
that  were  not  adapted  to  the  plantation  system.  This 
process  was,  in  a  way,  gradual,  and  has  left  no  marks 
of  its  operation;  but  before  the  Revolution  of  1776  it  is 
evident  that  it  was  extensively  accomplished. 

A  society  organized  on  this  basis  has  some  elements 
of  strength  and  many  of  weakness.  Combined  with  the 
principle  of  primogeniture,  which  gives  the  real  estate 
to  the  eldest  son,  it  tended  quickly  to  create  on  this  soil 
the  system  of  strong  families  controlling  the  life  about 


GOVERNMENT   OF  THE    VIRGINIA   PEOPLE.     15 

them,  a: id  thus  gave  a  more  truly  British  shape  to  the 
life  of  Virginia  than  was  given  to  the  society  of  any 
other  English  colony  that  has  been  founded  iu  America. 
This  system  of  strong  families,  where  power  goes  by 
inheritance,  makes  a  rigid  society,  but  it  is  very  favor- 
able to  the  rapid  development  of  those  qualities  which 
secure  the  dominauce  of  a  State.  No  time  is  lost  in 
trying  to  sort  out  in  each  generation  the  men  of  ca- 
pacity from  those  without  power  ;  inheritance  deter- 
mines where  the  power  shall  lie.  Imperfect  as  is  this 
method  of  selecting  those  who  are  to  rule,  it  works 
well  in  a  new  society. 

Under  this  system  there  grew  up  in  Virginia  a  ter- 
ritorial aristocracy,  which,  in  a  small  way,  closely  imi- 
tated its  English  archetype  in  all  but  title.  From  a 
few  hundred  homes  came,  generation  after  generation, 
the  people  who  shaped  the  State.  These  controlling 
families  were  not  necessarily  rich  ;  they  were,  in  most 
cases,  wealthy  only  in  a  relative  sense,  but  they  were 
by  birth  persons  of  a  certain  distinction.  They  natu- 
rally looked  upon  the  whites  who  belonged  to  the  lower 
caste  as  of  another  race.  In  this  they  in  no  wise  dif- 
fered from  their  English  ancestry,  or  from  all  other 
Europeans  of  their  time.  The  New  England  system 
tended  towards  a  pure,  an  ideal  democracy  ;  town  gov- 
ernment, church  government,  all  the  forces  of  their 
semi-religious  commonwealths,  were  essentially  demo- 
cratic iu  their  tendencies.  In  Virginia  all  conspired  to 
maintain  the  social  habits  of  the  England,  or  the  Europe, 
of  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  wealth  acquired  by  these  families  was  spent  in 
the  ordinary  luxuries  of  the  time.  A  certain  manner  of 
fast  living  was  here,  as  in  the  mother  country,  thought 


16  KENTUCKY. 

to  be  the  mark  of  gentlemen,  yet  politics  and  literature 
were  cultivated  ;  in  general,  society  had  a  polish  that  it 
wanted  in  the  thriftier  and  better  schooled  colonies  of 
the  North. 

The  clergy  of  this  day  had  little  control  over  the 
public  mind.  Religion  was,  to  a  great  degree,  imported 
with  their  wines  and  silk  stuffs.  Although  there  were 
doubtless  worthy  clergymen  to  be  found,  the  colony  was 
looked  upon  as  a  place  of  deposit  for  unsatisfactory 
priests  from  the  mother  country.  Without  perhaps  sink- 
ing any  lower  than  the  church  of  the  mother  country 
in  the  time  of  its  decay,  the  church  in  Virginia  still  fell 
far  below  the  level  of  an  ideal  Christianity.  We  look 
in  vain  to  colonial  Virginia  for  any  distinct  religious 
movements  until  the  period  of  the  Wesleyan  revival. 
The  influence  of  this  second  reformation  of  the  English 
church,  in  itself  far  higher  and  purer  than  that  of  Henry 
VIII.'s  time,  was  very  great,  and  profoundly  affected 
the  Virginia  people.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  American 
community  was  ever  so  changed  in  spirit  by  a  religious 
movement  as  was  Virginia  by  this  quickening  of  the  re- 
ligious spirit.  A  very  large  part  of  the  population,  and 
these  the  leaders  of  its  society,  were  swept  away  from 
their  old  listless  creed  by  this  revival.  The  dullness  in 
the  religious  life  of  the  colony  was  doubtless  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  control  of  their  church  system  was  in  for- 
eign hands.  It  disappeared  with  the  change  in  this  re- 
lation ;  still  it  remains  one  of  the  striking  differences 
between  the  life  of  Virginia  and  that  of  the  more  norths 
ern  colonies. 

The  educational  system  in  colonial  Virginia  was  de- 
fective ;  no  general  method  of  public  education  was 
provided.     The  sons  of   the   planters  were  educated  by 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE    VIRGINIA   PEOPLE.       17 

British  tutors,  or  were  sent  to  the  schools  of  the  north- 
ern colonies  or  to  Europe  ;  the  children  of  the  poorer 
whites  remained,  as  their  ancestors  before  them  had 
always  been,  generally  unlettered.  The  culture  of  the 
better  scholars  was  probably  broader  than  that  of  the 
same  class  in  Massachusetts  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  ;  but  this  culture  came  to  but  few 
of  the  citizens.  The  college  of  William  and  Mary, 
though  a  worthy  school  and  of  much  profit  to  the  col- 
ony, never  played  the  large  part  in  the  life  of  Virginia 
which  Harvard  aDd  Yale  did  in  their  commonwealths.1 
The  education  of  the  yeoman  class  was  what  it  always 
had  been,  a  training  in  the  active  duties  of  life.  To 
this,  hedgerow  schools  in  some  cases  added  a  little  train- 
ing in  reading  and  writing,  and  perhaps  the  elements  of 
arithmetic.  These  are  but  imperfect  data  for  a  study 
of  the  education  problem  among  these  people,  but  the 
fact  that  a  large  part  of  the  legal  papers  of  that  day  are 
signed  by  the  cross  is  proof  enough  of  the  extreme  illit- 
eracy of  the  lower  part  of  the  white  population. 

The  political  life  of  the  colonial  period  is  not  a  mat- 
ter that  gives  much  satisfaction  to  any  one  who  shares 
the  pride  of  this  people.  Until  we  come  down  to  the 
period  of  disturbances  that  ushered  in  the  Revolution 
of  1776,  there  is  little  sign  of  political  skill  or  of  a 
high  sense  of  political  liberty.  Little  resistance  was 
made  to  the  general  misgovernment  that  came  from 
the  crown.  Once  or  twice  there  were  little  flashes  of 
rage,  such  as  the  ignoble  revolt   of  Nathaniel   Bacon  ; 

1  Harvard  College  was  so  influential  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts 
that  it  was  thought  well  to  have  a  provision  in  the  state  constitution 
forbidding  any  officer  of  the  school  to  have  any  other  official  position 
in  the  State. 


18  KENTUCKY. 

but  the  colony  showed  in  the  first  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  its  life  little  or  no  promise  of  the  statesman- 
ship, the  valor,  the  intellectual  and  moral  power,  that 
were  to  bloom  so  richly  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  There  is  probably  no  transition  so  un- 
expected, so  uuforetold  by  previous  history,  as  the  awak- 
ening of  Virginia  after  1760.  If  we  had  been  able  to 
look  over  the  world  of  that  clay,  Virginia  was  perhaps 
the  last  place  where  we  would  have  expected  to  find  the 
power  that  the  Revolution  showed  to  be  waiting  there 
for  the  call  to  life. 

The  fact  seems  to  have  been  that  the  original  set- 
tlement brought  to  this  soil  a  well-chosen  representa- 
tion of  the  English  people.  A  life  of  few  incidents, 
of  simple  activities,  left  (hem  as  if  fallow  for  over  a 
century.  There  was  nothing  to  awaken  their  powers 
to  full  life.  At  last  the  accumulated  dissatisfactions  of 
the  colonists  over  the  stupidities  rather  than  the  op- 
pressions of  the  mother  country  supplied  the  needed 
stimulus  to  action. 

The  system  of  society  fostered  by  slavery  did  not 
favor  the  critical  spirit  in  politics  which  marked  the 
New  England  colonies,  but  it  made  action  even  more 
intense  when  the  time  for  it  came.  Virginia  in  1770, 
as  in  1861,  was  led  into  rebellion  by  the  action  of  its 
leading  families  rather  than  by  the  spontaneous  out- 
burst which  characterized  the  outbreak  in  Massachu- 
setts. Its  yeoman  class  followed  where  their  natural 
leaders  showed  the  way  in  the  former  as  in  the  later 
revolt.  This  subordination  to  leaders  has  always  been 
a  distinguishing  feature  of  all  southern  societies,  ex- 
cept, as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  in  Kentucky.  While 
there  is   a  very  large  element  of  individuality  among 


GOVERNMENT   OF  THE    VIRGINIA  PEOPLE.       19 

the  chosen  few,  the  mass  remained  in  the   silent  con- 
dition that  belonged  to  it  in  the  mother  country. 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  Virginia  was  the  most 
populous,  and  in  many  ways  the  richest,  of  all  the  col- 
onies. Her  population  was  less  dependent  on  the  other 
world  than  any  other  of  the  American  settlements.  She 
never  was  a  maritime  State,  despite  the  fact  that  she 
had  a  longer  shore  line  than  any  of  the  colonies  except 
Massachusetts,  and  had  been  an  exporter  of  ship  sup- 
plies for  a  century  and  a  half.  Her  population  was 
nearly  all  agricultural,  and  the  institution  of  slavery 
made  her  able  to  send  a  large  part  of  her  white  men 
into  the  field  when  they  were  called  to  arms.  This 
population  was  in  excellent  condition  for  military  duty. 
Her  considerable  service  in  the  French  wars,  together 
with  various  combats  with  the  Indians  in  her  own  do- 
minion and  in  North  Carolina,  had  kept  her  people  ac- 
customed to  arms  ;  moreover,  their  well-maintained  hab- 
its of  field  sports  contributed  to  the  same  result.  Not 
reckoning  the  negro  population,  Virginia  furnished  a 
larger  share  of  soldiers  than  any  other  of  the  colonies 
during  the  Revolution.  Nearly  all  of  her  loyal,  able- 
bodied  folk  saw  some  service  during  this  war,  both  in 
the  field  and  in  the  more  difficult  paths  of  legislation. 
She  sprang  at  once  into  a  marvelous  activity.  Men 
who  had  not  exhibited  any  ability  in  the  petty  and 
hampered  politics  of  the  colony  showed  at  once  an 
amazing  capacity  for  broad-minded  statesmanship  and 
the  higher  work  of  the  soldier.  After  a  political  and 
intellectual  night  of  a  century  came  this  brilliant  dawn 
of  power.  The  seven  years  of  the  war  sufficed  to 
awaken  the  long-dormant  energies  of  the  people.  Every 
hour  of  the  struggle  was  fertile  in  intellectual  growth. 


20  KENTUCKY. 

At  its  end  the  sleepy  and  luxurious  people  had  given 
a  larger  share  of  able  and  vigorous  men  than  had 
perhaps  ever  before  sprung  from  any  equal  population 
of  the  race.  This  remarkable  development  of  character 
makes  us  regret  that  we  cannot  see  more  clearly  the 
condition  of  nurture  that  had  made  it  possible.  It 
seems  likely  that  it  can  be  in  part  accounted  for  by 
the  inheritance  of  culture,  the  united  life  of  a  homo- 
geneous people,  and  the  strong  control  that  natural 
leaders  had  upon  the  society  in  which  they  dwelt.  Still 
it  remains  a  very  inexplicable  phenomenon,  —  one  that 
has  never  received  the  attention  that  its  singularity  de- 
serves. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Virginia  found 
herself  with  a  large  population  that  had  been  long 
separated  from  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  life.  Their 
places  had  closed  behind  them  ;  life  in  the  Old  Do- 
minion was  stagnant.  The  only  chance  open  to  her 
was  in  the  broad  fields  of  her  great  western  domain. 
The  conditions  of  a  community  at  the  close  of  a  long 
and  successful  war  are  j)eculiarly  favorable  for  the  mak- 
ing of  new  colonies ;  and  it  is  natural  that  at  this  time 
Virginia,  no  longer  herself  a  colony  but  a  State,  where 
the  best  lands  were  much  worn  by  a  shiftless  agricul- 
ture, should  have  been  strongly  affected  by  the  col- 
onizing spirit.  These  circumstances  led  to  a  very  large 
exodus  of  her  population  to  the  westward.  The  re- 
cently founded  settlements  in  Kentucky,  begun  ten 
years  or  so  before,  had  gone  far  enough  to  prove  that 
land  in  abundance  and  of  excellent  quality  could  he 
had  for  the  trouble  of  possessing  it.  Every  ambitious 
spirit,  every  man  who  had  within  him  the  sense  of 
power   necessary   for  the  arduous  work  of  facing  the 


GOVERNMENT  OF  TIIE    VIRGINIA   PEOPLE.       21 

dangers  of  a  wilderness  where  he  would  have  to  bat- 
tle for  everything,  with  nature  and  the  savage,  sought 
these  new  fields.  It  is  to  these  conditions  that  the 
new  settlements  beyond  the  Alleghanies  owed  the  most 
of  the  population  that  came  to  them  in  the  years  im- 
mediately following  the  Revolution.  A  small  portion 
of  the  Kentucky  settlers  came  from  southern  Mary- 
land and  from  central  North  Carolina,  societies  essen- 
tially like  that  of  Virginia  in  their  general  aspect. 

By  far  the  most  important  element  of  the  Kentucky 
colonists  came  from  the  soldiers  who  were  disbanded 
at  the  close  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain.  The  num- 
ber of  Revolutionary  soldiers  who  emigrated  to  Ken- 
tucky may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  in  1840,  nearly 
sixty  years  after  the  termination  of  that  struggle,  the 
pension  returns  showed  that  there  were  about  nine  hun- 
dred of  these  veterans  still  living  in  the  State ;  their 
ages,  according  to  the  record,  varying  from  seventy  to 
one  hundred  and  nine  years. 

This,  of  course,  was  but  a  small  part  of  the  host  who 
had  found  a  dwelling-place  within  the  State.  Probably 
at  least  ten  times  this  number  had  gone  to  their  graves. 
Such  men  were,  by  their  native  strength  and  their 
deeds,  the  natural  leaders  in  the  new  settlements,  both 
in  peace  and  war.  Thus  the  Kentucky  spirit  was  the 
offspring  of  the  Revolution.  The  combative  spirit  left 
by  the  Revolutionary  war  was  elsewhere  overwhelmed 
by  the  tide  of  commercial  life  ;  here  it  lived  on,  fed 
by  tradition  and  by  a  nearly  continuous  combat  down 
to  the  time  of  the  Rebellion. 

We  have  now  traced,  in  brief  outline,  the  conditions 
of  the  people  who  made  the  Commonwealth  of  Ken- 
tucky from  the  time  of  their  settlement  in  this  country 


22  KENTUCKY. 

to  the  exodus  into  Kentucky.  We  have  seen  that  in 
the  beginning  they  were  mainly  rural  Englishmen, 
who  came  voluntarily  to  America,  not  generally  under 
the  influence  of  political  or  religious  persecution,  but 
with  a  view  to  bettering  their  condition  as  tillers  of 
the  soil.1  It  was  doubtless,  on  the  whole,  a  selection 
of  the  best  of  the  country  blood  of  the  mother  land. 
None  but  the  vigorous,  the  enterprising,  the  hopeful- 
minded,  undertook  such  changes  of  life  in  those  days. 
The  people  sold  to  service  were  relatively  a  small  part 
of  this  population,  and  these  were  in  their  very  prime, 
for  none  others  would  bring  a  price.  From  this  picked 
people,  after  a  century  or  more  of  development  in  Vir- 
ginia, a  second  selection  was  made  to  found  the  new 
Virginia  of  the  west. 

As  noted  on  the  first  page  of  this  work,  such  a  bud- 
ding of  a  new  State  from  an  old  colony  has  hardly 
a  precedent  in  the  history  of  America.  All  the  Western 
States,  as  well  as  those  of  the  South,  have  been  settled 
by  immigrants  from  several  older  States,  generally  with 
more  or  less  admixture  of  people  drawn  directly  from 
foreign  sources.  Their  composite  blood  has  made  them 
perplexing  subjects  of  study,  from  the  diversity  of  mo- 
tives that  has  come  from  the  differences  in  their  origin. 
Ohio,  for  instance,  has  in  its  people  a  mingling  of  New 
Englanders,  New  Yorkers,  English  and  German  Penn- 
sylvanians,  Virginians,  Kentuckians,  Germans,  and  Irish. 

1  Although  this  statement  that  the  Virginia  colonics  were  not  fugi- 
tives for  opinions'  sake  is  true  in  a  general  way,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  a  certain  small  but  important  part  of  the  Virginia  people 
came  to  the  colony  when  the  success  of  the  Cromwellian  party  made 
their  old  homes  untenable  ;  and  that  another  and  more  important 
part  came  after  the  Restoration  had  made  the  position  of  the  Puritans 
extremely  uncomfortable. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE   VIRGINIA  PEOPLE.       23 

It  is  not  possible  to  determine  how  far  its  qualities  are 
due  to  this,  that,  or  the  other  part  of  its  population.  In 
Kentucky,  on  the  other  hand,  we  shall  find  nearly  pure 
English  blood,  mainly  derived  through  the  Old  Do- 
minion, and  altogether  from  districts  that  shared  the 
Virginian  conditions.  It  is,  moreover,  the  largest  body 
of  pure  English  folk  that  has,  speaking  generally,  been 
separated  from  the  mother  country  for  two  hundred 
years.  We  see,  therefore,  how  interesting  is  the  problem 
of  this  Kentucky  population.  It  has  been  seriously 
maintained  that  the  European  blood  tends  to  enfeeble- 
ment  in  American  conditions ;  that  it  requires  the  ad- 
mixture of  new  blood  from  the  Old  World  in  order  to 
keep  its  quality  unimpaired.  There  is  an  experiment 
provided  that  will  give  a  full  disproval  to  this  hypoth- 
esis. The  reader  will  do  well  to  bear  it  in  mind  while 
he  follows  the  history  of  the  Kentucky  people  in  the 
century  of  their  life  as  it  is  sketched  in  the  following 
pages. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   PHYSICAL    CONDITIONS    OF   KENTUCKY. 

Before  beginning  the  historic  accouut  of  Kentucky 
it  will  be  necessary  to  examine  the  physical  constitution 
of  the  State.  This  we  shall  be  compelled  to  do  in  a 
somewhat  extended  way,  for  here  even  more  than  in 
Virginia  has  this  physical  character  been  effective  in 
determining  the  history  of  its  people. 

The  area  of  Kentucky  is  about  forty  thousand  square 
miles.  Of  this  surface  all  but  about  five  thousand 
square  miles  lie  entirely  to  the  westward  of  the  Alle- 
ghany Mountain  system,  and  consists  of  a  set  of  table- 
lands, deeply  indented  by  the  southern  tributaries  of  the 
Ohio  River.  Except  along  the  main  streams  and  their 
longer  branches,  where  there  are  narrow  strips  of  allu- 
vial land  which  lie  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea,  the  surface  of  Keutucky  east  of  the 
Alleghanies  ranges  from  five  hundred  to  fifteen  hundred 
feet  above  tide-water.  The  elevation  of  the  surface  in- 
creases from  the  district  near  the  Mississippi  on  the 
west,  in  a  gradual  way,  up  to  the  foot  of  the  Alleghany 
chain  of  mountains  on  the  east.  The  principal  area  of 
Kentucky  is  thus  a  great  much-furrowed  plain,  sloping 
very  gently  to  the  west,  and  declining  also  toward  the 
Ohio  River.  On  its  northern  and  northwestern  face  it  is 
bordered  by  this  river  for  a  length,  measured  along  the 
windings  of  that  stream,  of  about  seven  hundred  miles; 


THE  PHYSICAL   CONDITIONS  OF  KENTUCKY.     25 

on  the  west  it  is  bordered  by  the  Mississippi  for  about 
fifty  miles ;  on  the  south  it  is  separated  from  Tennes- 
see by  a  conventional  line ;  on  the  east,  where  its  bor- 
ders march  with  those  of  Virginia,  the  line  is  the  crest 
of  the  Cumberland  and  Pine  mountains ;  and  from 
West  Virginia  it  is  parted  by  the  eastern  branch  of  the 
Chatterawa,  or  Big  Sandy  River.  It  will  thus  be  seen 
that  about  three  quarters  of  the  periphery  of  the  State 
consists  of  natural  boundaries. 

As  is  shown  by  the  map,  the  area  of  Kentucky  is 
much  exteuded  on  an  east  and  west  line.  It  lies  across 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  eastern  versant  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  While  its  eastern  and  western  axis  is 
over  five  hundred  miles  in  length,  its  northern  and 
southern  is  not  over  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  in 
extent.  This  great  east  and  west  extension  of  Kentucky 
is  better  understood  when  we  notice  that  the  southern 
borders  of  the  three  States,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois, 
march  with  its  northern  border.  As  we  shall  see  when 
we  come  to  the  period  of  the  civil  war,  this  peculiarity 
of  its  form  caused  Kentucky  to  have  an  especial  polit- 
ical importance  during  that  struggle. 

Much  as  Virginia  is  favored  by  the  wide-reaching 
tidal  streams,  so  Kentucky  is  blessed  by  its  river  system. 
The  Ohio,  the  most  navigable  branch  of  the  Mississippi 
waters,  gives  convenient  access  to  its  six  hundred  miles 
of  northern  front.  The  Chatterawa,  or  Big  Sandy,  the 
Nepepernine,  or  Licking,  the  Kentucky,  the  Salt,  the 
Green,  the  Tradewater,  the  Cumberland,  and  the  Ten- 
nessee give  a  greater  frontage  on  wholly  or  partly  navi- 
gable rivers  than  is  found  in  any  other  State  of  the 
Union.  The  total  length  of  streams  that  have  been 
more  or  less  used  for  navigation  exceeds  two  thousand 


26  KENTUCKY. 

five  hundred  miles.  These  streams  are  rarely  inter- 
rupted by  falls  or  impassable  rapids. 

The  surface  of  the  table-land  district,  which  includes 
about  thirty-five  thousand  square  miles,  is  very  favora- 
ble for  the  construction  of  wheelvvays.  The  general 
surface  is  not  very  rough,  the  streams  abound  in  good 
fords,  the  forests  are  generally  so  devoid  of  underbrush 
that  wagons  can  often  be  drawn  through  them  for 
miles.  The  limited  area  of  the  lowlands  and  alluvial 
plains  has  so  far  prevented  the  formation  of  swamps 
that  not  over  two  hundred  square  miles  of  this  area  is 
morass,  and  this  confined  to  the  extreme  western  part 
of  the  State.  The  districts  subject  to  overflow  by  river 
floods  do  not  exceed  one  thousand  square  miles,  or  one 
fortieth  the  surface  of  the  State.  So  the  region  is  sin- 
gularly free  from  the  evils  that  attend  low-lying  coun- 
tries. 

The  part  of  Kentucky  that  lies  within  the  small 
mountainous  region  of  the  State  contains  a  surface  of 
about  three  thousand  miles.  It  is  altogether  contained 
between  the  ridges  of  Pine  Mountain,  a  sharp,  wall- 
like ridge  on  the  west,  and  Cumberland  Mountain  on 
the  east.  It  is  thus  a  single  mountain  valley,  lying 
between  the  two  westernmost  ridges  of  the  Alleghany 
system.  This  trough  which  forms  the  valley  through 
which  flows  the  upper  Cumberland,  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  the  many  lovely  vales  of  that  chain.  The 
strong  outlines  of  the  bordering  mountains  have  given 
it  a  singular  isolation.  This  mountain  system  of  the 
Cumberland,  with  its  nearly  inaccessible  hills,  in  good 
part  walled  out  Kentucky  from  the  eastward.  These 
ridges  were,  fortunately  for  the  needs  of  immigrants, 
broken  by  two  deep  gaps,  —  one,  Cumberland   Gap,  in 


THE  PHYSICAL   CONDITIONS   OF  KENTUCKY.      .27 

the  mountain  of  that  name ;  the  other,  Pine  Gap,  in 
Piue  Mountain,  —  through  which  the  Cumberland 
Iliver  finds  its  way  out  into  the  table-land  region  to  the 
westward.  No  other  part  of  Kentucky  save  this  single 
mountain  trough  has  a  truly  mountainous  character. 
All  the  rest  is,  strictly  speaking,  table-laud,  more  or 
less  deeply  cut  down  into  valleys  by  the  streams,  but 
the  loftiest  ridges  do  not  exceed  one  thousand  feet  above 
the  neighboring  river-beds. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  nature  of  the  surface  when 
the  whites  first  came  to  it.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
white  occupation  the  surface  of  Kentucky,  except  about 
six  thousand  square  miles  in  the  central  and  western 
part  of  its  area,  was  a  primeval  forest.  As  there  had 
been  no  Indian  settlements  io  that  part  of  Kentucky 
east  of  the  Tennessee  for  many  years,  this  forest  terri- 
tory was  singularly  unbroken,  having  a  continuity  of 
woods  unknown  in  the  other  States,  for  the  reason  that 
no  other  part  of  the  United  States  not  a  desert  was 
ever  found  uninhabited  by  the  savages  and  uninter- 
rupted with  their  villages  and  clearings.  This  forest 
was  principally  of  the  broad-leaved  trees ;  no  great  ex- 
tent of  coniferous  woods  existing  then  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  district.  Fortunately  for  these  settlers,  the 
broad-leaved  woods  were  of  old  growth  and  singularly 
open  beneath,  so  that  the  early  track-ways  and  wagon- 
roads  were  easily  made  through  them. 

The  attraction  which  Kentucky  presented  to  its  first 
settlers  lay  in  the  abundance  of  the  good  lands  that 
were  to  be  had  in  its  area.  Its  mineral  wealth  was 
never  taken  into  account ;  the  charms  of  gold,  which 
had  lured  the  first  settlers  to  Virginia,  had  no  place  in 
the  motives   that  led   to  the   second  migration  of   its 


28  KENTUCKY. 

people.  It  was  soon  found  that  these  lands  were  very- 
varied  in  quality.  West  of  the  Pine  Mountain  range 
there  was  a  region,  about  fifty  miles  in  width,  where 
the  soil  was  lean  and  of  little  worth  for  the  uses  of  the 
jnoneers.  In  the  middle  section  of  the  State,  stretch- 
ing from  the  Ohio  River  to  the  escarpment  of  Mul- 
drough  Hill,  lay  the  rich  clay  lands  since  known  as  the 
"  Blue  Grass  "  district ;  yet  west  of  them  the  unwooded 
district,  known  as  the  Barrens,  which  were  at  first  sup- 
posed, from  their  treeless  condition,  to  be  worthless 
lands;  and  still  further  west  a  tract  of  sandy  country 
like  that  of  the  easternmost  district,  —  good  lands,  it 
is  true,  but  not  rich  enough  to  attract  the  first  settlers. 
It  was  this  Blue  Grass  1  land  that  was  the  incentive  to 
immigration.  The  soil  has  a  degree  of  fertility  un- 
known in  any  equal  area  of  Virginia,  and  unapproached 
there  save  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  which  was  already 
pretty  well  possessed  by  settlers  before  the  Kentucky 
migration  began.  After  the  Blue  Grass  district  was 
occupied,  the  population  began  to  move  on  to  the  less 
attractive  lands. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  lying  adjacent  to 
the  present  line  of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Rail- 
way, there  was  a  considerable  territory  afterwards  called 
the  "  Barrens,"  where  the  forest  growth  had  been  de- 
stroyed, except  along  the  borders  of  the  streams.  This 
destruction  of    the  timber   was  brought   about  by  the 

1  The  so-called  blue  grass  consists  of  two  species  of  plants,  the  Poa 
compressa  and  Poa  pratense.  These  grasses  are  not  peculiar  to  Ken- 
tucky ;  they  are  among  the  most  widely  distributed  grasses;  but  on 
the  best  limestone  lands  of  Kentucky  they  attain  a  singularly  luxu- 
riant growth.  The  "  blue"  of  the  name  is  given  it  on  account  of  the 
peculiar  hue  of  its  seed  vessels,  a  conspicuous  feature  during  its  time 
of  fruiting. 


THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS   OF  KENTUCKY.       29 

custom,  common  to  the  Western  Indians,  of  burning  the 
grass  of  open  grounds  and  the  undergrowth  of  the 
woods,  in  order  to  give  a  more  vigorous  pasturage  to 
the  buffalo  and  other  large  game.  To  this  custom  we 
may  fairly  attribute  the  deforesting  of  the  prairie  lands 
in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  perhaps  of  more  westerly 
regions.  The  annual  firing  of  the  low-growth  plants  led 
to  the  killing  of  all  the  young  trees.  The  Indians  ap- 
parently began  their  burning  of  the  woods  on  the  line 
of  the  great  trail  from  the  Ohio  Falls  to  Nashville, 
Tennessee.  When  the  whites  came  to  this  country  this 
savage  custom  had  deforested  an  area  of  at  least  five 
thousand  square  miles.  In  another  two  hundred  years 
the  Indians  would  probably  have  reduced  the  larger 
part  of  the  surface  of  Kentucky  to  the  condition  of 
prairies. 

At  first  the  white  immigrants  conceived  a  strong 
prejudice  to  this  untimbered  ground,  deeming  the  ab- 
sence of  trees  an  evidence  of  poverty  of  soil.  But  as 
soon  as  the  incursions  of  the  Indians  were  stopped 
they  saw  that  the  forests  speedily  repossessed  the  sur- 
face. Although  they  then  made  haste  to  occupy  it, 
the  swift  return  of  the  forests  after  the  Indian  fires 
were  stopped  caused  a  large  part  of  this  prairie  coun- 
try to  be  rewooded  before  it  could  be  subjected  to  the 
plough.  The  late  Senator  Underwood,  a  very  ob- 
servant person,  told  the  writer  that  when  he  came  to 
this  region,  in  the  first  years  of  this  century,  the  whole 
surface  was  covered  by  a  dense  growth  of  young  for- 
est trees,  which  had  sprung  into  life  in  the  preceding 
twenty  years,  or  since  the  Indians  had  ceased  to  hunt 
within  the  State. 

In  woods  of  beech  and  ash  it  takes  some  centuries 


30  KENTUCKY. 

of  repeated  firing  of  the  undergrowth  to  reduce  the 
area  to  treelessness,  hut  in  the  barren  district  this  pro- 
cess had  gone  on  long  enough  to  bring  five  or  six  thou- 
sand square  miles  to  an  essentially  treeless  condition, 
while  around  the  border  of  the  long-fired  region  there 
was  a  broad  fringe  of  forest,  where  the  fire-scarred 
trunks  of  old  yet  living  trees  stood  as  an  open  forest 
that  would  have  been  added  to  the  open  land  when 
the  time  came  for  the  old  trees  to  die.  This  was  a 
process  of  forest-killing  that  had  doubtless  been  car- 
ried on  over  the  territory  of  the  southwest,  only  there 
the  extermination  of  the  woods  was  more  complete 
and  the  history  of  its  process  less  traceable  than  in 
Kentucky. 

As  already  noted,  when  the  regular  hunting  expedi- 
tions of  the  Indians  into  Kentucky  were  arrested,  as 
they  were  in  about  1790,  this  region,  relieved  from 
further  firing,  began  to  spring  up  in  forest  again.  The 
germs  of  the  small-seeded  trees,  maples,  etc.,  were  rap- 
idly transported  by  the  wind  from  the  nearest  remaining 
trees  which  clung  about  the  entrances  to  the  canons 
that  abound  in  tbis  district  and  other  damp  places,  and 
quickly  repossessed  the  ground  in  forest ;  so  that  before 
settlements  had  made  any  great  headway  the  region 
had  been  covered  by  a  new  but  very  dense  and  vigorous 
forest,  which  was  harder  to  clear  away  than  the  older 
primeval  woods. 

The  area  of  very  fertile  soil  in  the  State  —  that 
which  may  be  called  of  the  first  order  —  is  about  ten 
thousand  square  miles.  This  is  equal  in  fertility  to  the 
best  English,  Belgian,  or  Lombardian  lands,  and  sur- 
passes any  other  region  in  this  country  or  in  Europe 
for  its  fitness  for  pasturage  land.     It  lies  on  a  lime- 


THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  OF  KENTUCKY.       31 

stone  rock,  which  by  its  rapid  decay  constantly  restores 
to  the  soil  the  elements  removed  by  cultivation,  so  that 
there  are  fields  in  Kentucky  which  have  been  steadily 
cropped,  with  no  attention  to  fallow  or  fertilizing,  for 
about  one  hundred  years  without  apparent  damage  to 
the  soil.  No  other  land  of  the  world  is  so  fitted  to  with- 
stand the  evils  of  the  utterly  unscientific  agriculture  to 
which  it  has  been  submitted  in  former  days.  The  area 
of  second-class  soils,  those  less  fertile  than  the  preced- 
ing, easily  worn  by  careless  tillage,  still  affording  a  good 
basis  for  agriculture,  may  safely  be  estimated  at  about 
twenty-two  thousand  square  miles  ;  the  distinctly  inferior 
soils,  those  not  well  suited  for  any  grains  without  fertil- 
izing, or  for  other  agricultural  use  save  as  low-grade 
pasture  lands,  and  for  timber,  include  about  seven  thou- 
sand square  miles.  There  are  not  over  two  hundred 
square  miles  of  irreclaimable  swamps  and  arid  rocky 
fields  ;  and  not  more  than  eight  hundred  square  miles 
unfit  for  pasturage.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  latter 
is  forest  clad,  and  with  a  little  care  could  be  made  to 
produce  good  timber.  It  is  doubtful  if  an  equally  good 
showing  can  be  made  for  any  other  State  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  and  there  are  few  regions  in  the  world 
where  so  large  an  area  with  so  little  waste  land  can  be 
found. 

The  position  of  Kentucky  brings  it  between  the  par- 
allels of  36.30  and  39°  north  latitude.  The  height  of 
the  surface,  being  an  average  of  about  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  above  the  sea,  gives  it  an  average  temper- 
ature about  three  degrees  colder  than  belongs  to  its  po- 
sition with  reference  to  the  tropics.  The  climate  shares 
in  the  peculiarities  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  ;  it  is  of 
the  continental  nature.    The  seasonal  range  of  tempera- 


32  KENTUCKY. 

ture  is  large,  but  less  than  that  of  any  other  of  the  Ohio 
group  of  States.  The  extremes  of  summer  heat  are  not 
greater  than  about  100°  Fahr.,  and  of  winter  cold 
about  —10°  Fahr.,  the  winter  cold  being  somewhat  less 
than  in  the  States  that  border  it  on  the  north.  The 
rainfall  is  rather  larger  than  the  average  for  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  the  amount  being  about  forty-eight 
inches.  It  is  less  liable  to  droughts  than  the  States  to 
the  north  of  the  Ohio.  This  is  due  to  its  larger  share 
of  the  rainfall  derived  from  the  Mexican  Gulf  and  to 
its  more  generally  forested  surface. 

This  region,  owing  perhaps  to  its  excellent  natural 
drainage  and  its  forest  covering  has  been  singularly  free 
from  the  malarious  and  other  fevers  that  have  proved  a 
scourge  in  many  of  the  Western  and  Southern  States. 
Yellow  fever  has  never  attacked  but  one  part  of  the 
State,  namely,  the  town  and  neighborhood  of  Hickman, 
on  the  Mississippi  River.  The  ordinary  miasmatic  fever 
does  not  occur  except  along  the  principal  rivers,  and 
there  is  exceptional.  The  climate  and  soil  permits  a 
considerable  range  of  products.  All  the  elements  of 
our  ordinary  American  agriculture,  the  principal  grains, 
roots,  fruits,  etc.,  find  favorable  conditions  here.  Cot- 
ton is  cultivated  in  the  region  adjacent  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  vine  has  been  successful  in  many  parts  of 
the  State.  The  original  settlers  brought  the  industry 
of  tobacco  culture  with  them,  and  this  has  always  been 
one  of  the  staple  crops ;  at  the  present  time  nearly  one 
third  of  the  American  production  of  this  plant  being 
from  Kentucky.  The  varied  capacities  of  its  agricul- 
ture may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  iu  each  of  the 
several  censuses  of  the  government  the  State  has  been 
first  in  some  one  agricultural  product,  and  in  each  dec- 


TEE  PHYSICAL  COX  BIT  IONS  OF  KENTUCKY.  33 
ade  has  changed  the  element  in  which  it  has  held  the 

first    place.1 

Although  this  presentation  necessarily  omits  many  im- 
portant facts  concerning  the  surface  conditions,  it  gives 
some  idea  of  the  goodness  of  the  inheritance  which  fell 
to  the  adventurous  spirits  from  Virginia,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  Maryland,  who  came  to  it  in  the  latter  days 
of  the  last  century.  It  is  only  necessary  to  add  that 
the  soil  was  very  easily  brought  to  the  uses  of  man. 
Lying  almost  altogether  south  of  the  region  in  which 
the  glaciers  acted,  these  lauds  were  not  covered  with  the 
accumulation  of  bowlders  which  have  been  so  serious  an 
obstacle  to  the  subjugation  of  the  lands  in  more  north- 
ern regions.  They  are,  on  the  other  hand,  as  a  whole, 
more  open  to  the  process  of  impoverishment  by  careless 
agriculture  than  the  soils  in  glaciated  countries,  which, 
though  stubborn  and  of  limited  original  fertility,  have 
the  advantage  that  they  are  less  quickly  exhausted  by 
careless  tillage.  The  result  is  that  Kentucky  now  con- 
tains considerable  areas  of  exhausted  land,  though  little 
that  is  irretrievably  ruined. 

Although,  as  a  whole,  the  natural  scenery  of  Ken- 
tucky is  not  very  picturesque,  it  makes  an  agreeable 
impression  on  the  mind.  The  surface  is  never  perfectly 
level,  but  is  cast  in  the  broad,  gentle  curves  that  give 
an  ever-varying  grace  to  a  country.  In  the  richer  por- 
tions the  exceedingly  fertile  soil  and  the  consequent  lux- 
uriance of  vegetation  confer  a  singular  brilliancy  on  the 
landscape.  The  entire  absence  of  grinding  poverty,  the 
vigorous  growth  and  physical  beauty  of  men  and  women, 
the  sleek  herds  in  the  fat  pastures,  —  all  together  serve 

1  The  tables  in  the  Appendix  will  show  this  fact  with  greater 
clearness. 

3 


34  KENTUCKY. 

to  give  the  traveler  through  this  land  a  sense  of  abiding 
prosperity  such  as  comes  to  him  in  no  other  country. 
He  feels  that  here,  for  once  at  least,  the  man,  the  soil, 
and  the  climate  have  fitted  so  well  to  each  other  that  dis- 
ease and  poverty  have  but  little  place  in  life. 

Statistical  inquiries  will  serve  to  support  this  impres- 
sion of  the  eye.  The  death-rate  is  lower  than  in  any 
other  State  from  which  goes  forth  each  year  a  great  tide 
of  the  younger  people,  and  pauperism  is  almost  un- 
known. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE    GEOLOGY    OF   KENTUCKY. 

This  sketch  of  those  resources  of  Kentucky  which 
have  had  or  may  have  an  influence  on  its  history  re- 
quires some  discussion  of  the  geological  structure  of  the 
area  of  the  State.  The  following  account  aims  only  at 
the  presentation  of  those  facts  which  are  required  for  an 
understanding  of  the  mere  outlines  of  this  structure. 
Little  is  given  that  has  not  some  bearing  on  the  ques- 
tion of  common  resources. 

All  the  important  geological  features  of  Kentucky  it 
has  in  common  with  the  adjacent  districts  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley.  The  bed  rocks  shown  to  the  eye  within 
its  borders  belong  to  the  lowest  formation  commonly 
known  in  this  country  as  the  Trenton  series  of  rocks, 
from  the  fact  that  beds  of  this  age  were  first  described 
from  that  part  of  New  York.  These  rocks,  which  are 
but  scantily  exposed  in  Kentucky,  though  they  appear 
in  East  Tennessee  and  Virginia,  were  maiidy  deposited 
in  a  deep,  open  sea.  They  consist  of  limestone  and 
clay  shales,  and  furnish  fairly  fertile  soils,  over  which 
lie  several  other  formations,  known  successively  up- 
wards as  the  Hudson  River,  Medina,  Clinton,  Niagara, 
mingled  limestones,  shales,  and  sandstones,  deposited, 
as  the  others,  in  the  old  seas.  Above  these  lie  a  great 
thickness  of  very  black  shales,  known  as  the  Ohio 
shales  ;  still  above  them  a  great  thickness  of  limestones, 


oG  KENTUCKY. 

shales,  sandstones,  which  are  commonly  called  the  sub- 
carboniferous  rocks,  because  they  immediately  underlie 
the  coal.  While  all  these  vast  deposits  were  forming, 
this  region  remained  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ocean, 
as  is  shown  by  the  numerous  marine  fossils  that  they 
all  contain  ;  but  with  the  last  of  the  sub-carboniferous 
beds  we  find  all  at  once  evidence  that  this  part  of  the 
world  had  been  suddenly  lifted  above  the  sea,  and  had 
become  overspread  by  forests.  This  proof  is  given  by 
certain  other  seams  of  coal  containing  land  plants. 

It  is  tolerably  certain  that  from  the  time  of  this  first 
elevation  above  the  sea  to  the  present  day  the  whole  of 
this  region  has  never  been,  for  any  length  of  time,  if  at 
all,  beneath  the  ocean.  Occasionally  during  the  long 
ages  of  the  coal  period  portions  of  it  were  deeply  buried, 
as  is  shown  by  the  marine  animals  found  in  the  lime- 
stones that  were  then  formed,  and  at  many  times  the 
surface  was  buried  beneath  far-extending  areas  of  fresh 
or  brackish  shallow  waters  ;  but  never  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  coal  measures  has  it  been  given  over  to  the 
deep.  The  beds  of  rock  beneath  the  surface  of  Ken- 
tucky, that  are  mainly  marine  limestones  and  shales, 
have  probably  a  total  thickness  of  nearly  ten  thousand 
feet,  of  which  about  two  thousand  feet  are  exposed  to 
view  in  the  central  part  of  the  State  along  their  some- 
what upturned  edges.  This  great  section  is  mainly  com- 
posed of  the  remains  of  animals  and  plants  that  have 
died  in  the  sea  and  been  cemented  together  on  its  floor. 
This  life-born  series  of  rocks  rests  upon  the  old  gra- 
nitic and  other  crystalline  rocks  that  are  seen  to  consti- 
tute the  deeper  part  of  the  earth's  crust,  wherever  we 
find  our  way  to  it.  Above  these  marine  rocks  we  find 
the  great  series  of  coal  measures,  where  only  the  coal 


THE   GEOLOGY  OF  KENTUCKY.  37 

beds  and  a  few  thin  limestones  owe  their  origin  to  or- 
ganic life  ;  all  the  rest  of  the  rocks  being  made  up  al- 
together of  the  waste  of  old  lands  in  the  shape  of  mud, 
sand,  and  gravel.  This  coal-measure  series  is  about 
thirty -five  hundred  feet  deep  at  its  thickest  point,  which 
is  near  Cumberland  Gap,  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
State. 

This  account  of  the  rocks  found  in  Kentucky  must  be 
supplemented  by  some  statement  of  their  distribution. 
Through  the  middle  of  the  State,  extending  in  a  north 
and  south  line  from  near  Nashville,  Tennessee,  to 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  beyond,  rises  a  very  broad,  low 
geological  ridge;  not  that  the  surface. is  higher,  but  the 
beds  are  bent  upwards,  as  we  may  observe  the  leveled 
layers  of  wood  carved  over  a  knot  on  the  surface  of  a 
planed  board.  It  is  here  that  the  lowest  beds  of  rock 
are  exposed  by  the  Chazy  and  Trenton  limestone.  This 
ridge  is  not  of  equal  height  in  all  its  parts ;  it  sags  down 
like  a  broken  ridgepole  in  the  region  between  Lexing- 
ton and  the  line  that  separates  Kentucky  from  Tennes- 
see, so  that  newer  rocks,  the  Devonian  and  carbonifer- 
ous strata,  lie  on  its  middle  part  than  we  find  near  Lex- 
ington or  the  Tennessee  line.  It  is  this  wide  geolog- 
ical ridge  that  brings  to  the  surface  the  rocks  which  by 
their  decay  form  the  Blue  Grass  soil  in  the  middle  of 
the  State.  But  for  its  ample  uplifted  back  Kentucky 
would  have  had  no  soil  to  tempt  the  early  settlers  to 
their  new  home. 

On  either  side  of  this  principal  central  field  of  lime- 
stone and  other  marine  rocks  we  have  the  great  coal- 
measure  districts  of  Eastern  and  Western  Kentucky. 
That  on  the  west  is  but  a  fragment  of  the  great  western 
coal  field  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  which  extends  into  In- 


58964 


38  KENTUCKY. 

diana  and  Illinois.  That  on  the  east  is  likewise  a  part 
of  the  great  Appalachian  coal  field  which  occupies  a 
large  part  of  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Virginia, 
Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Georgia.  These  two  coal  fields 
were  once  united  over  Central  Kentucky,  but  have  been 
worn  away,  leaving  their  waste  upon  the  hill  -  tops : 
they  have  together  an  area  of  about  twelve  thousand 
square  miles,  of  which  the  eastern  is  by  far  the  larger 
and  better  of  the  two.  This  coal  district  is  somewhat 
less  valuable  than  that  of  Pennsylvania,  but  is  ex- 
ceeded in  value  by  that  of  no  other  State.  All  the 
Kentucky  coals  are  of  the  bituminous  species,  varying 
a  good  deal  in  their  quality,  which  is  generally  ex- 
tremely good.  They  are  easily  mined,  and  the  total 
supply  of  this  buried  solar  force  is  about  equal  to  that 
of  Great  Britain. 

Next  after  the  coal  beds  the  iron-ore  deposits  are 
the  principal  sources  of  underground  wealth  in  this  re- 
gion. They  are  much  less  extensive  and  varied  than 
those  of  Virginia,  Alabama,  Pennsylvania,  Michigan,  or 
North  Carolina,  but  are  probably  exceeded  by  those  of 
no  other  States.  Owing  to  their  close  proximity  to  the 
coal  beds,  where  the  smelting  fuel  may  be  found,  they 
are  better  disposed  for  working  than  any  other  ores, 
except,  perhaps,  those  of  Alabama  and  Virginia.  The 
first  iron  smelting  done  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  was 
begun  in  Bath  County,  Kentucky,  in  1790,  at  a  time 
when  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  guard  against  Indian 
incursions  against  the  furnace.  The  industry  has  had  a 
considerable  importance  ever  since  this  early  day. 

The  other  mineral  resources  of  Kentucky  are  very 
limited,  there  being  no  strata  exposed  within  the  area 
that  belong  to  the  group  of  metamorphic  rocks  ;  no  gran- 


THE   GEOLOGY  OF  KENTUCKY.  39 

ite,  gneiss,  or  mica  schists ;  no  very  metamorphosed 
limestones,  with  a  single  exception,  no  specimen  of  dike 
stones.  There  are  none  of  the  precious  metals  to  be 
found  within  its  borders.  There  are  some  veins  of  lead 
in  the  limestone  districts,  but  they  are  not  worth  the 
working,  for  they  are  generally  narrow  and  belong  to 
the  type  of  gash  veins,  which  have  no  certainty  of  ex- 
tension in  any  direction.  The  very  circumstances  that 
have  given  so  much  good  land  and  such  an  easily  ac- 
cessible surface  have  not  favored  the  formation  of  the 
vein  deposits  of  any  kind.  There  are  some  deposits  of 
petroleum,  but  they  have  never  been  worked  to  much 
profit,  for  they  do  not  give  flowing  or  free-pumping 
wells,  and  cannot  compete  with  the  richer  deposits  of 
the  Pennsylvania  or  West  Virginia  districts. 

Kentucky  is  richly  provided  with  easily  quarried  and 
excellent  building  stones.  The  several  limestone  series 
all  yield  good  coarse  marbles,  and  several  of  the  sand- 
stones are  among  the  best  for  their  uses.  Cement 
rocks  are  abundant  and  widely  distributed,  and  fine 
clays  abound  in  the  coal  measures.  The  oolitic  beds 
from  the  sub-carboniferous  limestone  afford  the  best 
architectural  material  of  this  country :  a  massive  but 
easily  quarried  rock  that  may  be  readily  carved  when 
taken  from  the  quarry,  but  which  hardens  after  expos- 
ure, and  is  proof  against  fire,  retaining  a  warm  cream 
color  under  the  difficult  conditions  of  our  smoky  towns. 

As  a  whole,  Kentucky  is  not  so  favored  in  the  under- 
ground resources  as  it  is  in  its  soil  and  climate,  yet  in 
those  more  important  resources  of  power  derived  from 
coal  beds  and  iron  ores  it  is  one  of  the  most  favored 
areas  in  the  country.  It  is  naturally  fitted  for  agri- 
culture, in  itself  the  best  of  resources,  and  it  has  a  lib- 


40  KENTUCKY. 

eral  proportion  of  the  most  important  of  the  earth's 
products,  —  cheap  fuel,  cheap  iron,  and  good  construct- 
ive stones. 

Although  the  geological  structure  of  Kentucky  is  of 
a  very  simple  nature,  it  gives  rise  to  some  interesting 
local  features  that  have  had  their  effect  on  the  history 
of  the  State.  Among  these  we  may  mention  the  salt 
licks  and  the  caverns,  to  which  latter  class  belongs  the 
Mammoth  and  other  great  caves  of  the  State.  The 
principal  salt  licks,  in  number  a  hundred  or  more,  are 
scattered  over  the  central  or  Blue  Grass  district  of  the 
State.  They  consist  generally  of  saline  springs,  that 
bubble  up  from  the  strata  of  Trenton  age,  which  have 
impregnated  the  soil  about  their  basins  with  common 
salt.  To  these  springs  the  large  herbivora  of  the  coun- 
try once  resorted  to  obtain  the  annual  supply  of  saline 
matter  that  was  necessary  for  their  life.  When  the 
whites  first  came  to  this  country,  the  buffalo,  the  elk, 
and  the  deer  frequented  these  salt  springs  in  great 
numbers.  For  many  years  these  species  of  large  game 
shot  at  the  licks  afforded  the  pioneers  an  important 
source  of  supply  of  food  and  hides.  The  licks  were  also 
valuable  to  them,  as  by  boiling  down  the  waters  they 
were  able  to. secure  an  abundant  provision  of  salt,  which, 
nest  after  gunpowder,  was  the  most  necessary  article  of 
common  use  and  the  one  most  difficult  to  procure.  To  the 
geologist  these  salt  licks  have  a  very  peculiar  interest. 
In  the  first  place,  they  have  a  remarkable  origin.  When 
the  rocks  whence  they  flow  were  formed  on  the  silurian 
sea-floors,  a  good  deal  of  the  sea-water  was  imprisoned 
in  the  strata,  between  the  grains  of  sand  or  mud  and  in 
the  cavities  of  the  shells  that  make  up  a  large  part  of 
these  rocks.     This  confined  sea-water  is  gradually  being 


THE   GEOLOGY  OF  KENTUCKY.  41 

displaced  by  the  downward  sinking  of  the  rain-water 
through  the  rifts  of  the  strata,  and  thus  finds  its  way  to 
the  surface :  so  that  these  springs  offer  to  us  a  share 
of  the  ancient  seas,  in  which  perhaps  a  hundred  million 
of  years  ago  the  rocks  of  Kentucky  were  laid  down.1 

About  these  springs  there  is  generally  a  bit  of 
swamp  ground,  due  to  the  slow  down-sinking  of  the 
underlying  rocks  as  they  are  deprived  of  a  part  of 
their  solid  matter  by  the  ascending  springs.  These 
swamps  contain  a  wonderful  collection  of  the  bones  of 
the  large  herbivora,  which  for  ages  resorted  to  these 
springs.  Not  only  do  we  find  the  bones  of  the  animals 
which  occupied  the  country  when  the  whites  first  came 
to  it,  —  the  buffalo,  the  elk,  the  deer,  etc.,  —  but,  also, 
deeper  in  the  mire,  or  in  portions  that  indicate  a  greater 
antiquity,  great  quantities  of  the  bones  of  the  fossil  ele- 
phant, his  lesser  kinsman  the  mastodon,  the  musk-ox, 
an  extinct  long-legged  buffalo,  the  caribou,  or  Ameri- 
can reindeer,  and  various  other  creatures  which  dwelt 
here  in  the  time  when  the  last  glacial  period  covered 
the  more  northern  regions  with  a  mantle  of  ice.  The 
largest,  and  to  the  geologist  the  most  interesting,  of 
these  swamp-bordered  springs  is  known  as  Big  Bone 
Lick.  This  is  situated  in  Boone  County,  about  twenty 
miles  southwest  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  At  this  point 
there  is  a  swampy  lowland  around  the  salt  springs  that 
contains  a  wonderful  mass  of  elephant,  mastodon,  bison, 
and  other  bones.  Of  the  mammoth  alone  there  are 
probably  hundreds  of  skeletons,  which  were  engulfed 
in  the  soft  mud  about  the  spring  mouth,  when,  in  the 
olden  days,  these  great  creatures  resorted  to  this  place 

1  For  a  detailed  account  of  these  licks  see  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  232, 
Mevitiirs  of  the  Kentucky  Geological  Survey,  by  N.  S.  Shaler,  1876. 


42  KENTUCKY. 

for  their  annual  salting.  When  the  whites  first  came 
to  the  district  the  ground  was  thickly  strewn  with 
skeletons.  The  early  settlers  used  them  for  supporting 
their  camp  kettles  and  for  seats  by  the  fireside. 

The  caverns  of  Kentucky,  especially  the  Mammoth 
Cave,  have  obtained  a  deserved  celebrity.  These  cav- 
erns lie  in  the  limestone  rocks,  which  are  found  just 
under  the  coal  -  bearing  series.  As  these  limestones 
are  better  developed  in  Kentucky  than  in  any  other 
States,  they  afford  a  more  extensive  series  of  under- 
ground galleries  than  are  found  elsewhere.  A  region 
of  at  least  five  thousand  square  miles  of  area  has  the 
limestone  rocks  within  two  hundred  feet  of  the  surface 
penetrated  by  these  channels,  after  the  fashion  of  a  piece 
of  worm-eaten  wood.  These  galleries  are  of  very  varied 
sizes  :  from  a  crevice  scarcely  bigger  than  a  mole  hole 
to  those  as  great  as  the  aisle  of  the  noblest  cathedral. 
In  this  area  there  are  doubtless  a  hundred  thousand 
miles  of  ways  large  enough  to  permit  the  easy  passage 
of  man.  These  channels  are  excavated  by  the  streams 
that,  gathering  on  the  surface,  quickly  pour  through 
"  sink  holes  "  into  their  subterranean  ways.  They  are 
from  time  to  time  abandoned  by  the  free-running  wa- 
ters, and  are  then  slowly  filled  in  by  stalactitic  incrus- 
tations, deposited  by  the  water  that  trickles  drop  by 
drop  through  the  roof. 

This  underground  world  of  Kentucky  is  full  of  in- 
terest to  the  intelligent  observer.  In  the  vast,  deep- 
buried  chambers  of  these  caverns  he  finds  a  still  air,  of 
perfect  purity  and  of  unchanging  temperature.  The 
scenery  is  often  singularly  majestic;  again  of  a  weird 
and  marvelous  beauty.  A  strange  life,  consisting  in  the 
main  of  species  that  never  emerge  from  the  caverns, 


THE   GEOLOGY  OF  KENTUCKY.  43 

adds  to  the  strangeness  of  this  world.  These  species 
are  generally  blind,  often  quite  without  eyes,  affording 
a  striking  illustration  of  the  relation  of  the  animal  or- 
ganism to  its  environment. 

On  the  floor  of  the  drier  parts  of  these  caverns  lies 
a  deep  coating  of  dust,  in  which  can  often  be  seen  the 
prints  of  the  moccasins  of  Indians,  made  a  century  or 
more  ago  by  savages  who  sought  refuge  in  these  caves 
from  their  enemies.  In  some  caves  this  dust  was  used 
by  the  aborigines  as  a  burial-place,  and  in  these  caves 
the  bodies  are  preserved  by  the  dry,  'pure  air  in  a  mum- 
mified condition.1  In  this  dust  the  early  settlers  found 
a  source  of  supply  of  nitre,  which  is  the  most  essential 
ingredient  of  gunpowder.  The  earth  was  leached  with 
water,  which  dissolved  the  nitre ;  the  solution  was  then 
boiled  down,  and  the  residuum  was  the  "  villainous  salt- 
petre," which  was  so  necessary  to  the  pioneers'  life. 
This  use  of  the  common  earth  —  "  petre-dirt,"  in  the  na- 
tive parlance  —  was  introduced  by  Dr.  Samuel  Brown, 
who  was  the  first  professor  of  medicine  in  the  West. 
He  was  chosen  to  be  professor  of  that  art  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  in  1799.  To  him  the  State 
owes  much  help  in  its  early  industry.  Among  other 
things  he  introduced  there  the  newly-discovered  art  of 
lithograph}7.2 

Last  among  the  interesting  geological  features  of 
Kentucky  we  may  notice  the  singular  convulsion  known 

1  See,  for  a  more  complete  account  of  these  caverns,  Memoirs  of 
the  Kentucky  Geological  Survey,  by  N.  S.  Shaler,  vol.  i.,  part  i. 
187G. 

2  The  art  of  gunpowder-making  was  early  carried  on  in  Kentucky, 
and  a  large  part  of  the  powder  used  in  the  campaigns  of  1812  was 
made  in  the  State.  It  is  said  that  the  negroes  were  the  principal 
adepts  in  the  art 


44  KENTUCKY. 

as  the  New  Madrid  earthquake  of  1811-13.  In  Novem- 
ber of  that  year  the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi  was 
rudely  shaken  by  a  strong  movement  of  the  earth.  This 
disturbance  was  most  severe  in  the  region  near  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  and  in  its  energy 
is  to  be  compared  with  the  greatest  shocks  that  the 
world  has  undergone.  A  large  area  of  the  Mississippi 
shores  sank  down,  and  a  tract  of  several  hundred  square 
miles  of  good  soil  was  permanently  depressed  beneath 
the  water. 

After  the  first  few  appalling-  shocks  the  convulsions 
became  less  violent,  but  at  more  frequent  intervals, 
until  at  the  end  of  two  years  there  was  a  nearly  constant 
slight  oscillation  of  the  earth,  which  only  perturbed  a 
small  region.  Gradually  the  movements  ceased,  and 
since  that  day  there  has  Ijeen  no  notable  shock  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  It  was  fortunate  that  this  great  dis- 
turbance came  at  a  time  when  the  country  was  scantily 
peopled,  for  in  the  present  condition  of  the  country  it 
would  cause  a  fearful  loss  of  life  and  property. 


CHAPTER  V. 

TIIE    FIRST    KEXTUCKIANS. 

It  has  already  been  noticed  that  when  Kentucky  was 
first  settled  by  the  whites  there  were  no  aborigines 
resident  within  its  bounds  except  some  of  the  Chicka- 
saw Indians,  who  held  a  narrow  strip  along  the  borders 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  a  small  settlement  on  the 
Ohio,  opposite  where  Portsmouth,  Ohio,  now  stands. 
The  absence  of  resident  Indians  in  this  very  fertile  coun- 
try, abounding  in  game,  constitutes  one  of  the  most 
interesting  problems  of  the  country.  It  is  evident  that 
it  was  a  recent  condition,  for  there  is  abundant  proof 
of  the  extensive  occupation  of  this  district  by  an  agri- 
cultural people  at  a  period  not  many  centuries  anterior 
to  the  time  when  it  first  became  known  to  Europeans. 
The  whole  surface  of  the  State,  except  the  easternmost 
part,  abounds  in  mounds,  ditched  and  walled  fortifica- 
tions, and  other  evidences  of  extensive  and  permanent 
occupancy  by  a  considerable  population. 

A  good  deal  of  unnecessary  mystery  has  been  woven 
around  the  history  of  this  ancient  folk  termed  the 
mound-builders.  It  has  been  supposed  that  they  were 
a  much  more  civilized  people  than  any  of  our  Indians ; 
that  they  mark  the  presence  of  another  and  peculiar 
race  on  this  continent.  Further  researches  have  shown 
that  this  is  not  the  case;  that  these  mound-builders 
were  in  fact  of  the  same  race,  of   the  same  tribes,  as 


46  KENTUCKY.  ( 

our  ordinary  aborigines,  who  have  by  various  chances 
become  somewhat  changed  in  their  habits.1 

In  brief,  the  history  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Ken- 
tucky seems  to  be  this.  There  is  no  evidence  yet  found 
to  show  that  there  were  any  human  beings  in  this  dis- 
trict more  than  one  or  two  thousand  years  ago.  None 
of  the  remains  in  Kentucky  can  by  any  reasonable  sort 
of  inference  be  carried  further  into  the  past  than  this. 
The  first  settlers  known  to  us  were,  as  far  as  all  the 
evidence  goes,  essentially  like  our  ordinary  Indians,  ex- 
cept that  they  were  perhaps  more  given  to  agriculture 
and  trusted  less  for  their  support  to  the  chase.  That 
they  were  largely  agricultural  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
their  remains  are  most  plentiful  in  regions  of  good  soil, 
and  least  so  in  the  more  sterile  country,  though  there 
was  no  great  difference  in  the  amount  of  game  which 
the  regions  afforded.  They  were,  it  is  true,  mound-build- 
ers, but  so  were  the  Indians  of  our  Southern  States  to 
within  the  historic  period.  Their  only  peculiarity  lay  in 
the  circumstance  that  the  buffalo  was  as  yet  unknown 
in  this  country  ;  so  that  this  great  incentive  to  a  wild 
life,  this  abundant  resource  of  the  chase,  was  not  af- 
forded them.  They  were,  therefore,  necessarily  soil- 
tillers,  looking  to  regular  labor  for  their  subsistence. 
About  a  thousand  years  or  so  ago,  perhaps  less,  the  buf- 
falo, a  creature  of  the  plain  lands,  began  to  appear  in 
this  part  of  the  country.  It  is  the  present  writer's  be- 
lief that  the  way  of  the  creature  to  the  eastward  had 
been  favored  by  the  deforesting  of  the  level  lands  of  Il- 
linois and  Indiana  in  the  same  way  as  the  "  Barrens  " 

i  See  the  Memoir  on  the  Mound-Builders,  by  Mr.  L.  Carr,  in  vol. 
ii.,  Memoir  of  the  Kentucky  Geological  Survey,  N.  S.  Slialer,  director, 
Frankfort,  1883,  for  a  full  discussion  of  this  subject. 


THE  FIRST  KENTUCKIANS.  47 

of  Kentucky  had  been  made  treeless.  At  any  rate,  the 
coming  of  this  creature  coincided  with  the  change  of 
these  peoples  to  a  more  barbarous  condition  ;  agricul- 
ture became  less  necessary,  for  the  chase  would  supply 
immediate  needs  at  all  seasons.  This  plentitude  of 
meat  appears  to  have  had  a  debasing  effect  on  all  the 
peoples  of  the  Ohio  Valley.  They  no  longer  tilled  as 
much  ;  their  settlements,  with  their  mounds  and  forts, 
were  abandoned  as  far  as  this  epoch-making  beast  ex- 
tended his  march. 

The  Indians  of  the  South,  where  the  dense  forests 
and  the  swamp-margined  streams  presented  a  barrier 
to  the  migration  of  the  buffalo,  remained  principally 
soil-tillers,  as  did  the  Indians  of  New  York,  while  other 
western  tribes  became  nomadic.  Extensive  warfares 
were  waged  between  these  diversified  peoples,  and  Ken- 
tucky became  one  of  the  principal  seats  of  their  com- 
bats, —  a  sort  of  border-land  such  as  separated  the  Scots 
and  English  in  their  days  of  combat. 

In  Kentucky  the  Chickasaws  alone  held  their  ground, 
being  the  most  northern  of  the  sedentary  Southern  In- 
dians. Their  strongholds  on  the  bluffs  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  inaccessibility  of  this  country  on  account 
of  its  deep,  sluggish,  mud-bordered  streams,  seem  to 
have  given  them  a  sufficient  measure  of  protection 
against  their  enemies,  but  elsewhere  in  the  State  the  In- 
dians were  rooted  out  by  their  wars. 

The  last  tenants  of  the  State,  east  of  the  Tennessee 
River,  were  the  Shawuees,  —  that  combative  folk  who 
ravaged  this  country  with  their  ceaseless  wars  from  the 
head-waters  of  the  Tennessee  to  the  Mississippi,  and 
from  the  Lakes  to  Alabama. 

It   was  no  small  advantage  to  the   early  settlers  of 


48  KENTUCKY. 

Kentucky  that  they  found  this  region  without  a  resi- 
dent Indian  population,  for,  bitter  as  was  the  struggle 
with  the  claimants  of  the  soil,  it  never  had  the  danger 
that  would  have  come  from  a  contest  with  the  natives 
in  closer  proximity  to  their  homes.  As  it  was,  they 
had  not  to  wage  a  perpetual  warfare  with  a  fierce 
enemy,  near  its  base  of  supplies,  but  only  to  deal  with 
raiding  parties,  who  soon  exhausted  their  stock  of  pro- 
visions, which  could  not  be  supplied  from  the  game, 
diminished  as  it  was  by  the  effective  hunting  of  the 
whites.  When  they  came  to  carry  the  war  north  of 
the  Ohio,  the  whites  found  that  even  great  military  ex- 
peditions, such  as  that  of  St.  Clair,  might  receive  crush- 
ing defeats  from  their  enemy.  Any  such  army  of  In- 
dians as  were  met  in  several  of  the  campaigns  north 
of  the  Ohio,  would,  for  half  a  century  after  the  settle- 
ment of  Kentucky  began,  easily  have  made  an  end  of 
this  feeble  colony. 

It  was  very  fortunate  for  this  first  English  settlement 
north  of  the  Alleghanies  that  it  found  this  open  ground, 
made  difficult  of  access  on  the  north  by  a  great  river, 
and  remote  from  the  centres  of  the  native  population. 
In  their  relatively  safe  place  the  infant  colony  grew 
strong,  and  from  its  vantage  ground,  which  constituted 
a  great  salient  into  the  Mississippi  Valley,  they  were 
able  in  time  to  make  overwhelming  assaults  upon  the 
flank  of  the  Indians  north  of  the  Ohio. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  French  colonists 
never  made  the  least  effort  to  explore,  much  less  to 
possess,  Kentucky.  They  occupied,  and  in  a  way  con- 
trolled, much  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  a  part  of  Ohio, 
but  it  is  doubtful  if  they  ever  sent  au  explorer  into 
the  interior  of  Kentucky.     This  was  due  to  the   fact 


THE  FIRST  KENTUCKIANS.  49 

that  the  French  theory  of  occupation  in  America  was 
utterly  different  from  the  English.  The  French  en- 
deavored to  hend  the  Indians  to  their  purpose,  and 
made  no  distinct  effort  to  colonize  the  Ohio  Valley 
either  from  the  Canadas  or  from  Louisiana.  As  Ken- 
tucky was  unoccupied  by  the  Indians,  it  was  neglected 
by  the  French.  There  is  a  little  but  rather  untrust- 
worthy evidence  that  they  made  a  feeble  effort  to  de- 
velop some  of  the  lead  mines  near  the  Ohio,  but  noth- 
ing came  of  it. 

Thus  the  first  settlers  found  themselves,  in  the  main, 
free  from  these  dangers  due  to  the  savages  and  their 
Gallic  allies.  The  land  lay  more  open  to  their  occu- 
pancy than  any  other  part  of  this  country  ever  did  to 
its  first  European  comers.  The  Southern  Indians  had 
no  interest  in  it ;  in  fact,  the  coming  of  the  white  man 
must  have  been,  on  the  whole,  advantageous  to  them,  as 
it  served  to  make  an  end  to  the  raids  of  the  Northern 
Indians.  None  of  the  tribes  north  of  the  Ohio  had  a 
very  good  title  to  the  ground,  or  were  willing  deter- 
minedly to  fight  for  it,  as  they  did  for  the  land  about 
their  villages.  What  resistance  they  made  was  soon 
overcome  by  the  valor  of  the  first  of  Virginia  colonists 
that  came  to  this  region. 

There  is  yet  another  circumstance  concerning  the 
condition  affecting  the  early  settlement  of  Kentucky 
that  deserves  mention  :  this  is  the  peculiar  law  concern- 
ing the  allotment  of  the  public  domain,  which  has  been 
in  use  both  in  this  State  and  in  Virginia  since  their 
foundations  were  laid. 

When  Virginia  was  settled  it  was  under  a  charter, 
or  patent,  that  gave  the  control  of  the  unoccupied 
country  into  the  hands    of   its   authorities.     Although 


50  KENTUCKY. 

during  the  British  period  there  was  a  semblance  of  con- 
trol by  the  home  government  over  these  allotments, 
they  were  practically  managed  by  the  colonial  govern- 
ment alone.  Grants  were,  after  the  first  days  of  the 
colony,  made  on  the  payment  of  various  fees,  for  sur- 
veying, -etc.,  and  a  small  tax  per  acre  for  the  land 
"  taken  up."  This  is  substantially  the  same  method 
as  that  followed  by  the  Federal  government,  with  the 
important  difference  that  Virginia,  and  sevei'al  other 
Southern  colonies,  never  made  auy  preliminary  survey 
of  the  land  before  it  was  sold  to  settlers.  Each  claim- 
ant was  required  to  have  his  own  survey  made,  desig- 
nating thereon  the  bounds  of  the  land  occupied.  This 
was  then  recorded  in  the  land-office  of  the  State,  and 
gave  the  basis  for  the  issue  of  the  land-warrants.  This 
system  had  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  great  mo- 
ment. It  allowed  the  rapid  settlement  of  the  country 
and  the  establishment  of  titles  long  in  advance  of  any 
possible  map  -  making.  With  a  compass  and  a  chain 
a  surveyor,  with  a  few  hours'  work,  would  give  the 
bounds  of  a  tract  of  a  thousand  acres,  so  that  they 
could  be  held  or  sold  with  safety.  "While  the  settle- 
ments of  the  Northwest  have  had  to  follow  in  the  wake 
of  the  government  surveyors,  the  settler  in  Kentucky 
became  his  own  surveyor. 

The  disadvantages  of  this  method  were,  however, 
very  great.  There  being  little  or  no  limitation  of  size 
to  these  surveys,  they  were  of  all  areas  and  shapes. 
The  poor  man  was  content  with  his  patch  of  one  hun- 
dred acres  ;  the  speculative  capitalist  of  the  day  would, 
perhaps,  "  run  out  "  a  hundred  thousand  acres  or  more. 
In  time  half  a  dozen  patents  would  be  laid  over  the 
same  land.     Areas  of  unpatented  land,  of  all  shapes  and 


TEE  FIRST  KENTUCKIANS.  51 

sizes,  lay  between  the  patents.  As  land  grew  dearer 
the  would-be  "  blanket "  patents  were  put  over  exten- 
sive districts,  in  the  hope  of  capturing  these  unappropri- 
ated lots.  Of  all  these  conflicts  the  Virginia,  and,  fol- 
lowing it,  the  Kentucky  land-office  took  no  note.  To 
this  day  one  can,  if  he  please  to  pay  the  costs,  "  pa- 
tent "  any  land  that  lies  in  Kentucky,  and  repeat  the 
process  on  the  same  area  each  year.  The  State  only 
guarantees  the  entry  if  the  land  is  unpossessed  under 
previous  title  of  valid  kind.  In  time  a  vast  amount  of 
litigation  and  no  end  of  trouble  came  out  of  this  scheme. 
At  this  moment,  owing  to  the  absence  of  records,  there 
are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  in  Kentucky  over 
which  no  sort  of  ownership  has  ever  been  exercised. 
No  taxes  are  collected  on  them.  If  they  have  ever 
been  surveyed,  no  one  knows  under  what  patents  they 
are  claimed.  While  this  primitive  and  imperfect  sys- 
tem of  distributing  the  public  lands  was  the  best  possible 
for  this  early  day,  —  was,  indeed,  a  condition  precedent 
to  any  settlement  at  all,  —  it  left  a  train  of  doubtful 
titles  that  has  to  this  day  proved  harmful  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  State.  This  evil  is,  however,  rapidly 
passing  away,  for  possessive  titles  have,  in  almost  all 
cases,  remedied  any  flaw  in  the  original  claim.  This 
system  of  allotting  land  is  a  good  specimen  of  the 
American  capacity  for  simplicity  in  matters  which  else- 
where would  have  been  arranged  in  a  more  complicated 
but  less  adequate  fashiou.  It  should  be  said  that  this 
description  of  the  method  of  titles  does  not  apply  to  the 
district  west  of  the  Tennessee  River ;  that  was  pur- 
chased from  the  Indians  long  after  the  settlement  of 
Kentucky.  This  small  part  of  the  State  was  divided 
into  rectangular  areas,  as  in  the  Northwestern  States. 


52  KENTUCKY. 

The  imperfection  of  the  early  land  system  of  Ken- 
tucky may  serve  to  show  the  difficulties  that  came  to 
this  lone  Commonwealth  from  the  absence  of  all  gov- 
ernmental care  in  its  founding.  All  the  other  new 
States  of  this  Union  have  had  their  early  stages  of  de- 
velopment guarded  by  the  Federal  government.  They 
were  provided  with  an  effective  land  system,  a  system 
of  laws  suited  to  their  needs,  and  the  protection  of 
government  troops.  The  Kentucky  settlements  had  to 
do  without  these  important  aids. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FIRST    EXPLORATIONS    OF   KENTUCKY. 

"We  have  now  noticed  the  principal  features  in  the 
history  of  the  folk  that  furnished  the  greater  part  of  the 
early  colonists  of  Kentucky,  as  well  as  the  physical 
conditions  of  the  land  itself.  We  may  next  proceed 
to  consider  the  history  of  the  earliest  explorations  and 
the  first  steps  toward  the  settlement  of  the  State. 

Although  Virginia  had  a  just  claim  to  all  the  re- 
gion of  the  Ohio  Valley  north  of  the  parallel  of  36°  30', 
that  is,  if  there  were  any  justice  in  the  colonial  grants  at 
all,  this  empire  of  the  unknown  was  little  esteemed  in 
the  early  days  of  that  colony.  They  knew  only  that  it 
lay  far  beyond  rugged  mountains,  peopled  by  their  new- 
found enemies  the  red  men,  and  claimed  by  their  hered- 
itary enemies  the  French.  Some  knowledge  of  it  they 
had  from  their  expeditions  against  the  French,  and  the 
chance  reports  of  the  few  travelers  who  ventured  near 
it,  but  it  was  not  until  there  began  to  be  a  need  of  find- 
ing place  for  the  growing  population  of  the  colony 
that  they  turned  their  minds  toward  this  country.  At 
this  time  the  settlements  were  well  up  to  the  borders 
of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  —  indeed,  all  the  richer 
valleys  of  the  eastern  part  of  that  chain  were  pretty 
thoroughly  taken  up  by  settlers.  The  greater  part  of 
this  region  was  of  a  nature  to  be  extremely  repellent 
to  the  Virginia  farmer.     The  price  of  grain  and  cattle 


54  KENTUCKY. 

was  exceedingly  low  ;  he  was  accustomed  to  feel  that 
he  must  either  have  ground  well  fitted  to  tobacco,  or 
else  soil  that  would  give  a  large  return  for  his  labor  in 
the  less  exportable  crops.  Therefore  the  fairly  good 
lands  of  the  Alleghanies  seemed,  and  indeed  were,  to 
him  worthless.  It  is  a  simple  application  of  the  theory 
of  rent  taught  by  political  economy. 

The  Alleghanies  were,  however,  an  extremely  diffi- 
cult—  indeed,  at  first  a  nearly  impassable  —  barrier  to 
western  movement.  They  consisted  of  a  number  of  long 
ridges,  set  in  rank  behind  rank  ;  their  slopes  were  steep, 
their  forests  dense,  and  where  they  were  cut  by  streams 
these  flowed  in  canon-like  gorges  generally  unfitted  for 
roadways.  No  other  than  a  forest-bred  people  would 
have  dared  this  wilderness  in  search  of  cheap  and  good 
land.  It  is  difficult  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  hazard- 
ous nature  of  this  movement.  We  must  believe  that 
the  first  adventurers  had  slow  imaginations  or  a  rare 
valor,  else  the  evident  risks  of  their  project  would 
surely  have  sufficed  to  deter  even  the  bravest  men, 
spurred  by  no  sense  of  duty  to  this  enterprise  of  con- 
quering a  far-away  and  mythical  land. 

The  colonial  charters  of  Virginia  gave  to  that  col- 
ony a  claim  upon  all  the  lands  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
that  lay  to  the  west  of  the  boundaries  of  Pennsylvania 
and  New  York,  as  well  as  of  the  colony  itself.  At  the 
time  when  these  grants  were  made,  and  for  generations 
afterward,  this  western  domain  was  to  Virginia  a  very 
intangible  property,  if  indeed  it  deserved  the  name  of  a 
possession.  The  little  that  was  known  about  it  came 
mostly  through  the  French  authorities,  or  from  a  few  ad- 
venturous traders  who  had  visited  that  country.  To  the 
Virginians  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  first  decades  of 


FIRST  EXPLORATIONS   OF  KENTUCKY.  55 

the  eighteenth  century,  charter  rights  in  a  country  from 
which  came  recurrent  dangers  in  the  shape  of  French 
or  Indian  wars  seemed  of  no  value  whatever.  When, 
however,  the  fall  of  Louisburg  and  Quebec  and  other 
events  in  the  warfare  with  the  French  in  Canada  began 
to  show  that  the  English  were  likely  to  win  control  of 
the  continent,  when  the  fear  of  the  savages  was  some- 
what diminished  by  a  long  and  generally  successful 
struggle  with  them,  the  miuds  of  the  Virginia  people 
began  to  dwell  upon  the  possibilities  of  that  broad  and 
fertile  country  which  lay  beyond  the  barren  ridges  of 
the  Alleghanies. 

The  history  of  Virginia  shows  us  that  there  were  sev- 
eral reasons  which  led  its  people  to  desire  western  pos- 
sessions long  before  the  more  northern  colonies  began 
to  look  to  the  Mississippi  Valley  for  new  homes.  In 
the  first  place,  the  Virginia  people  came  from  the  more 
rural  population  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  from 
the  beginning  were  ever  in  their  mode  of  living  a  less 
urban  people  than  the  more  northern  colonists  of  Amer- 
ica. Within  the  tobacco  belt  agriculture  was  a  much 
more  profitable  occupation  than  it  ever  became  within 
the  northern  colonies  during  the  colonial  times.  This 
and  the  other  crops  produced  by  slave  labor  were  won 
by  a  careless  tillage,  that  rapidly  reduced  the  fertility 
of  the  land,  and  made  it  desirable  to  seek  fresh  fields 
for  the  devastating  ploughs.1 

l  It  would  not  be  possible  to  contrive  a  more  perfect  means  of  rap- 
idly exhausting  the  soil  than  the  method  of  tillage  commonly  in  use 
in  the  old  days  in  this  Virginian  country.  The  "tilth,"  or  depth  of 
the  ploughing,  rarely  exceeded  six  inches,  and  oftener  was  less  ; 
ploughs  were  rim  year  after  year  at  the  same  depth,  until  there  was 
a  hard  pan  formed  by  the  action  of  the  plough  heel,  which  shut  the 
roots  of  the  crops  out  of  the  sub-soil.     Manuring  was  never  under- 


56  KENTUCKY. 

The  use  of  slave  labor  in  agriculture  demands  exceed- 
ingly rich  soils ;  even  with  so  exportable  an  article  as 
tobacco,  tillage  cannot  profitably  be  carried  on  by  means 
of  slaves  on  lands  that  are  not  excellent  in  quality. 
This  is  plainly  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  hill  regions 
of  the  South  did  not  become  occupied  by  slaveholders. 
In  all  the  vast  expanse  of  the  Alleghanies,  where  the 
soils  are  relatively  poor,  there  is  scarcely  more  negro 
blood  than  there  is  in  New  York  or  New  England,  aud 
those  negroes  who  are  now  found  there  are  mostly  waifs 
recently  brought  by  the  railways  and  other  modern  en- 
terprises. Here  and  there,  where  the  Alleghanies  in- 
close small  areas  of  limestone  rock,  which  by  its  clay 
produces  soils  of  the  first  order,  the  slaveholder  planted 
himself  and  for  a  time  tilled  his  crops ;  but  as  a  whole 
the  institution  did  not  fit  mountain  regions,  however 
fertile  the  valleys  might  be,  for  the  tracts  of  arable 
land  were  not  large  enough  to  permit  the  plantation 
system  to  be  applied  to  their  tillage,  so  that  they  fell 
to  the  non-slaveholding  class.  The  student  of  general 
history  will  find  interest  in  the  fact  that  this  unfitness 
of  the  Appalachian  system  of  mountains  for  tillage  by 
slaves  became  a  very  important  element  in  the  civil 
war.  The  people  of  this  district  during  the  conflict 
were  either  armed  Union  men  or  lukewarm  adherents 
of  the  Confederacy.  The  Appalachian  district  formed 
a  great  salient  of  anti-slavery  people  that  cut  the  South 
nearly  in  twain. 

taken  ;  not  uncommonly  the  stables  were  allowed  to  fill  with  unre- 
moved  dung  until  the  beasts  could  no  longer  enter  them.  When  the 
exhaustion  of  the  abused  soil  was  so  complete  that  it  could  no  longer 
be  profitably  cultivated,  the  place  was  "turned  out,"  the  healing  for- 
ests again  possessed  it,  while  the  proprietor  went  "over  the  divide" 
and  set  about  his  devastating  work  on  another  farm. 


FIRST  EXPLORATIONS   OF  KENTUCKY.         57 

In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  lands  fitted  for 
the  use  of  slaves  in  Virginia,  at  least  in  that  part  of  the 
State  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  were  fully  occupied.  The 
Shenandoah  Valley  was  in  good  part  settled,  and  the 
whole  of  its  fertile  parts  was  possessed  either  hy  active 
tillers  or  by  large  owners  like  Lord  Fairfax,  who  re- 
tained them  for  speculation.  The  farming  class  found 
themselves  faced  by  the  long  parallel  ridges  of  the  Al- 
leghanies,  which  stretch  in  an  almost  continuous  wall 
from  the  border  of  New  York  State  to  the  country  of 
the  Gulf  slope,  a  region  unfit  for  tillage. 

The  compulsion  to  westward  migration  then  acting 
upon  the  Virginia  people  was  something  like  that  which 
in  the  olden  days  drove  their  remote  ancestry  from  Cen- 
tral Asia  over  the  lands  of  Europe  to  the  Atlantic.  In 
neither  case  were  the  people  crowded  in  the  sense  that 
the  Belgium  or  the  Massachusetts  people  are  now 
crowded  together,  but  they  were  in  each  case  aggre- 
gated beyond  the  limits  of  their  conditions.  With  herds- 
men there  can  only  be  a  very  few  people  to  the  square 
mile ;  with  slave  agriculture  the  number  may  be 
greater,  but  still  far  below  the  number  that  may  advan- 
tageously inhabit  the  same  district  under  conditions  of 
freedom. 

Even  before  1750  adventurers  seeking  trade  with  the 
Indians  had  been  exploring  the  Alleghanies  for  ways 
into  the  West.  It  had  already  been  found  that  the 
most  practicable  route  was  by  following  to  the  south- 
ward the  great  mountain  trough  that  separates  the  Blue 
Ridge  from  the  Alleghany  range  of  mountains.  The 
course  of  this  valley  is  nearly  to  the  southwest,  and  its 
high-lying  fertile  limestone  plains  are  drained  in  turn 
by  the  Shenandoah  and  the   Roanoke,  that  send  their 


58  KENTUCKY. 

waters  to  the  Atlantic,  and  the  Kanawaha,  or  New 
River,  and  the  Tennessee,  tributaries  of  the  Ohio.  In 
this  trough,  that  separates  the  eastern  and  western 
rauges  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  the  traveler  can 
journey  through  a  length  of  many  hundred  miles  with- 
out having  to  pass  over  any  difficult  ways. 

From  this  valley  there  are  two  natural  ways  to  the 
Ohio :  at  the  crossing  of  the  New  River,  or  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Greenbrier  River,  it  is  possible  to  turn 
sharply  to  the  north  down  that  stream,  and  then  along 
its  banks  to  follow  a  tolerably  direct  line  to  the  Ohio, 
the  stream  itself  being  unnavigable  for  much  of  its 
length  ;  or,  better  still,  the  mountain  valley  may  be  fol- 
lowed about  a  hundred  miles  further  to  the  southwest 
to  a  point  where  for  a  considerable  distance  the  Cum- 
berland River  and  the  Powell  branch  of  the  great  Ten- 
nessee run  for  some  distance  parallel  to  each  other,  sep- 
arated only  by  the  narrow  wall  of  the  Cumberland 
Mountain.  At  this  point  the  Cumberland  Mountain  is  a 
single  ridge,  generally  too  steep  even  for  horse-paths, 
but  at  several  points  it  breaks  down  into  traversable 
passes.  Crossing  this  mountain  over  any  of  these 
passes,  the  westward  farer  had  only  to  follow  the  Cum- 
berland, as  it  cuts  its  way  through  the  Pine  Mountain' 
and  the  irregular  hills  still  farther  to  the  west,  to  find  a 
difficult  but  practicable  way  into  Eastern  Kentucky,  one 
possible  to  pack  animals,  which  could  find  foothold  on 
the  Indian  paths  or  buffalo  trails,  and  easily  made  pos- 
sible to  that  ship  of  the  wilderness,  the  admirable 
American  wagon.1 

i  At  the  time  when  Kentucky  was  settled  the  European  paek-sad- 
dle  was  still  in  general  use  in  this  country.  It  was  almost  the  only 
means  of  conveying  burdens  employed  down  to  the  end  of  the  six- 


FIRST  EXPLORATIONS   OF  KENTUCKY.  59 

From  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  the  Shenandoah 
Valley  this  southward  extension  of  its  fertile  lauds  was 
well  known  to  the  Virginians.  As  early  as  the  seven- 
teenth century  one  of  the  frontier  forts  was  placed  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  valley.  These  ways  to  the. 
West  were  traversed  even  in  the  seventeenth  century 
by  many  of  those  hardy  spirits  who  skirmish  beyond 
the  advancing  lines  of  civilization.1 

The  first  authentic  report  of  a  deliberate  journey  be- 
yond the  line  of  the  Alleghanies  is  that  of  Doctor 
Thomas  Walker,  who  in  1750  traveled  to  the  central 
parts  of  the  region  afterwards  called  Kentucky,  and  re- 
turned with  a  good  report  of  the  country.  This  journal 
still  exists  in  manuscript.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  re- 
markably intelligent  explorer,  for  he  noticed  the  east- 
ernmost outcrop  of  the  Appalachian  coal-field,  which  so 
far  is  probably  the  first  meutiou  of  any  fact  of  a  geo- 

teenth  century.  It  held  on  in  Virginia  for  more  than  a  century  after 
it  had  generally  passed  out  of  service  in  the  Old  World.  Remnants 
of  its  use  may  still  be  found  in  some  of  the  sequestered  corners  of  the 
Southern  Appalachians.  But  for  this  simple  instrument  the  settle- 
ment of  Kentucky  would  hardly  have  been  possible,  for  it  was  many 
years  before  a  wagon  road  was  constructed. 

1  Even  as  early  as  1654  a  certain  Colonel  Wood  was  in  Kentucky 
as  an  explorer,  but  of  his  route  we  know  little  or  nothing.  Raffi- 
nesque,  in  his  most  untrustworthy  annals  of  Kentucky,  says  that  a 
Captain  Bolt  came  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky  in  1660.  In  1730  John 
Sailing,  a  Virginian,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Cherokee  Indians  and 
carried  to  Tennessee,  thence  to  the  salt  licks  of  Kentucky  ;  a  second 
capture  by  Illinois  Indians  led  to  his  traveling  as  far  as  Kaskaskia  ; 
escaping  from  his  second  captivity  by  ransom,  he  finally  reached  Vir- 
ginia again.  He  was  .probably  the  first  Virginian  to  tread  the  way 
leading  to  Kentucky  by  Cumberland  Gap,  which  so  many  of  his  fel- 
lows were  to  follow,  but  as  his  journey  was  not  voluntary  he  cannot 
claim  real  credit  as  an  explorer.  There  is  also  a  tradition  that  in 
1742  a  man  named  John  Howard  crossed  the  mountains  and  went 
down  the  Ohio,  but  the  fact  is  doubtful.     (See  Collins,  i.,  p.  15.) 


60  KENTUCKY. 

logical  nature  concerning  any  part  of  the  Virginia 
mountains.  Walker  named  the  principal  features  of 
the  country  he  traversed :  the  Waseoto  mountains, 
which  he  called  Cumberland  ;  the  Shawnee  River,  to 
which  he  gave  the  same  name ;  the  Chatterawah,  which, 
with  the  Virginian  dislike  of  Indian  names,  he  called 
the  Big  Sandy.  There  is  some  excuse  for  his  calling 
the  finest  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and  the  most 
beautiful  of  its  rivers  after  the  very  unsavory  George, 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  and  the  beautiful  Chatterawah 
the  Big  Sandy  ;  for  the  fact  is  Kentucky  had  been  re- 
cently in  good  part  abandoned  by  the  Shawnee  Indians 
as  a  place  of  residence,  and  had  become  a  border  fight- 
ing-ground between  the  Indians  north  of  the  Ohio  and 
the  Cherokees  and  other  tribes  of  the  Tennessee  Val- 
ley and  the  country  to  the  south  and  east  of  it,  so  that 
the  traveler  had  no  chance  to  get  the  aboriginal  names 
of  its  geographical  features  from  natives. 

In  1751  Christopher  Gist,  an  agent  of  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany, a  corporation  having  from  Virginia  an  unplaced 
grant  of  500,000  acres  of  land,  visited  Shawnee  town, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto  River,  where  Portsmouth, 
Ohio,  now  stands.  Here  he  found  a  settlement  con- 
taining about  three  hundred  Indians  :  one  part  of  their 
lodges  on  the  southern,  or  Kentucky  side  of  the  Ohio, 
but  the  most  on  the  northern,  or  Ohio,  border  of  the 
stream.  So  entirely  was  Kentucky  at  this  time  aban- 
doned by  the  Indians  that  this  was  probably  the  only 
settlement  within  the  limits  of  the  State,  except  some 
Indian  towns  along  the  Mississippi  River.  There  were 
many  Indian  traders  residing  at  this  settlement,  show- 
ing that  the  country  had  already  been  extensively  pen- 
etrated by  those  adventurous  men.     Gist's  explorations 


FIRST  EXPLORATIONS   OF  KENTUCKY.  61 

were  extended  as  far  as  Big  Bone  Lick,  whence  he 
obtained  some  of  the  fossil  elephant  remains.1  Thence 
he  followed  an  Indian  trail  up  the  Kentucky  and  across 
the  mountains  to  the  Kanawha.2 

In  1752  Lewis  Evans  issued  the  first  map  of  the  re- 
gion, including  Kentucky.3  It  is  probable  that  few 
copies  of  this  map  remain  in  existence.  In  175G  a  white 
woman,  a  Mrs.  Mary  Inglis,  was  taken  prisoner  in 
Southwestern  Virginia  and  conveyed  to  Central  Ken- 
tucky, where  she  escaped  and  made  her  way  home  afoot 
after  a  journey  of  appalling  difficulty. 

The  narrative  of  her  adventures  is  thus  given  in  Col- 
lins's  "  History  of  Kentucky  :  "  — 

"  The  first  white  woman  in  Kentucky  was  Mrs.  Mary 
Inglis,  nee  Draper,  who  in  175G,  with  her  two  little 
boys,  her  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Draper,  and  others,  was 
taken  prisoner  by  the  Shawanee  Indians  from  her  home 
on  the  top  of  the  great  Alleghany  ridge,  in  now  Mont- 
gomery County,  West  Virginia.  The  captives  were 
taken  down  the  Kanawha  to  the  salt  region,  and,  after 
a  few  days  spent  in  making  salt,  to  the  Indian  village 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto  River,  where  Portsmouth, 

1  Big  Bone  Lick  was  early  looked  upon  as  the  principal  curiosity  of 
the  country.  Many  of  the  expeditions  encamped  there.  When  first 
visited  by  the  whites  the  bones  of  the  mammoth  and  the  mastodon 
were  plentifully  scattered  over  the  ground  about  the  salt  springs. 
The  camping  parties  used  the  ribs  of  the  fossil  elephants  for  tent  poles 
and  the  vertebrae  for  seats  and  as  rests  for  their  camp  kettles.  At  a 
later  time  Jefferson  had  a  valuable  collection  of  these  remains  brought 
to  Washington  and  deposited  in  the  government  buildings,  along  with 
other  geological  material  that  this  many -minded  man  brought  to- 
gether. These  specimens  remained  in  the  patent-office  until  at  length, 
it  is  on  tradition  reported,  they  were  sent  to  the  bone  mill  by  one  of 
the  ignorant  servants  of  that  office. 

2  See  Collins,  i.  15.  3  See  Collins,  i.  15. 


62  KENTUCKY. 

Ohio,  now  is.  Here,  although  spared  the  pain  and  dan- 
ger of  running  the  gauntlet,  to  which  Mrs.  Draper  was 
subjected,  she  was,  in  the  division  of  the  prisoners,  sep- 
arated from  her  little  sons.  Some  French  traders  from 
Detroit  visiting  the  village  with  their  goods,  Mrs.  In- 
glis  made  some  shirts  out  of  the  checked  fabrics.  As 
fast  as  one  was  finished,  a  Frenchman  would  take  it 
and  run  through  the  village,  swinging  it  on  a  staff, 
px*aising  it  as  an  ornament  and  Mrs.  Iuglis  as  a  very 
fine  squaw ;  and  then  make  the  Indians  pay  her  from 
their  store  at  least  twice  its  value.  This  profitable 
employment  continued  about  three  weeks,  and  Mrs. 
Inglis  was  more  than  ever  admired  and  kindly  treated 
by  her  captors. 

"  A  party  setting  off  for  Big  Bone  Licks,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Ohio  River,  about  one  hundred  and 
forty  miles  below,  to  make  salt,  took  her  along,  together 
with  an  elderly  Dutch  woman,  who  had  been  a  long 
time  prisoner.  The  separation  from  her  children  de- 
termined her  to  escape,  and  she  prevailed  upon  the  old 
woman  to  accompany  her.  They  obtained  leave  to 
gather  grapes.  Securing  a  blanket,  tomahawk,  and 
knife,  they  left  the  Licks  in  the  afternoon,  and  to  pre- 
vent suspicion  took  neither  additional  clothing  nor  pro- 
visions. "When  about  to  depart,  Mrs.  Inglis  exchanged 
her  tomahawk  with  one  of  the  three  Frenchmen  in  the 
company,  as  he  was  sitting  on  one  of  the  big  bones 
Cracking  walnuts.  They  hastened  to  the  Ohio  River, 
and  proceeded  unmolested  up  the  stream,  —  in  about 
five  days  coming  opposite  the  village  their  captors  and 
they  had  lived  at,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto.  There 
they  found  an  empty  cabin,  and  remained  for  the  night. 
In  the  morning  they  loaded  a  horse,  browsing  near  by, 


FIRST  EXPLORATIONS  OF  KENTUCKY.  63 

with  corn,  and  proceeded  up  the  river,  escaping  obser- 
vation, although  in  sight  of  the  Indian  village  and  In- 
dians for  several  hours. 

"  Although  the  season  was  dry  and  the  rivers  low, 
the  Big  Sandy  was  too  deep  to  cross  at  its  mouth  ;  so 
they  followed  up  its  banks  until  they  found  a  crossing 
on  the  driftwood.  The  horse  fell  among  the  logs,  and 
could  not  be  extricated.  The  women  carried  what 
corn  they  could,  but  it  was  exhausted  long  before  they 
reached  the  Kanawha,  and  they  lived  upon  grapes, 
black  walnuts,  pawpaws,  and  sometimes  roots.  These 
did  not  long  satisfy  the  old  Dutch  woman,  and,  frantic 
with  hunger  and  exposure,  she  threatened,  and  several 
days  after  at  twilight  actually  attempted,  the  life  of  her 
companion.  Mrs.  Inglis  escaped  from  the  grasp  of  the 
desperate  woman,  outran  her,  and  concealed  herself 
awhile  under  the  river-bank.  Proceeding  along  by  the 
light  of  the  moon,  she  found  a  canoe  —  the  identical 
one  in  which  the  Indians  had  taken  her  across  the  river 
five  months  before  —  half  filled  with  dirt  and  leaves, 
without  a  paddle  or  a  pole  near.  Using  a  broad  splin- 
ter of  a  fallen  tree,  she  cleared  the  canoe,  and  con- 
trived to  paddle  it  to  the  other  side.  In  the  morning 
the  old  woman  discovered  her,  and  with  strong  prom- 
ises of  good  behavior  begged  her  to  cross  over  and  keep 
her  company ;  but  she  thought  they  were  more  likely 
to  remain  friends  with  the  river  between  them.  Though 
approaching  her  former  home,  her  condition  was  grow- 
ing hopeless :  her  strength  almost  wasted  away,  and 
her  limbs  had  begun  to  swell  from  wading  cold  streams, 
frost,  and  fatigue.  The  weather  was  growing  cold,  and 
a  light  snow  fell.  At  length,  after  forty  days  and  a 
half  of  remarkable  endurance,  during  which  she  trav- 


64  KENTUCKY. 

eled  not  less  than  twenty  miles  a  day,  she  reached  a 
clearing  and  the  residence  of  a  friendly  family,  by 
whose  kind  and  judicious  treatment  she  was  strong 
enough  in  a  few  days  to  proceed  to  a  fort  near  by,  and 
the  next  day  she  was  restored  to  her  husband.  Help 
was  sent  to  the  Dutch  woman,  and  she,  too,  recovered. 
One  of  the  little  boys  died  in  captivity,  not  long  after 
the  forced  separation;  the  other  remained  thirteen  years 
with  the  Indians  before  his  father  could  trace  him  up 
and  secure  his  ransom.  Mrs.  Inglis  died  in  1813,  aged 
eighty-four.  Her  family  was  one  of  the  best,  and  her 
daughters  married  men  who  became  distinguished."  1 

In  1765  Colonel  George  Croghan,  who  had  pre- 
viously visited  the  Ohio  with  Gist,  made  a  surveying 
journey  down  that  stream  from  Pittsburg  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  survey  was  of  the  rudest  sort ;  he  made 
an  error  of  ninety-seven  miles  in  his  estimate  of  the 
distance  from  Pittsburg  to  the  junction  of  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi,  and  similar  errors  in  all  his  determina- 
tions, but  his  work  deserves  to  be  remembered  as  the 
first  effort  to  do  surveying  in  this  basin.  In  1766  a 
party  of  five  persons,  including  a  mulatto  slave,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  James  Smith,  explored  a  large 
part  of  what  is  now  Tennessee,  and  probably  extended 
their  journey  through  Southern  Kentucky. 

Journeys  to  Kentucky  now  became  frequent.  Every 
year  sent  one  or  more  parties  of  pioneers  to  one  part 
or  another  of  the  country.  In  1769  Daniel  Boone 
and  five  companions,  all  from  the  Yadkin  settlements 
in  North  Carolina,  came  to  Eastern  Kentucky.  One 
of  the  party  was  killed,  but  Boone  remained,  while 
his  companions  returned  to  their  homes.  Thus  it  will 
1  Collins,  ii.  p.  53. 


FIRST  EXPLORATIONS  OF  KENTUCKY.  65 

be  seen  that  Boone's  first  visit  was  relatively  late  in 
the  history  of  Kentucky  explorations.  Almost  every 
part  of  its  surface  had  been  traversed  by  other  ex- 
plorers before  this  man,  who  passes  in  history  as  the 
typical  pioneer,  set  foot  upon  its  ground.  In  the  time 
between  1770  and  1772  George  Washington,  then  a 
land-surveyor,  made  two  surveys  in  the  region  which 
is  now  the  northeast  corner  of  Kentucky,  included  in 
the  present  counties  of  Greenuji),  Boyd,  and  Lawrence. 

The  reader  should  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  these 
movements  were  made  in  the  face  of  grave  dangers 
from  the  Southern  Indians.  The  Shawnees,  the  most 
warlike  of  the  Western  tribes,  had,  it  is  true,  been  driven 
from  their  settlements  in  Kentucky,  but  the  land  was 
claimed  by  the  Cherokees,  a  numerous  and  combative 
association  of  tribes.  In  1756  the  Earl  of  Loudon, 
then  commander  of  the  British  troops  in  America  and 
Governor  of  Virginia,  built  a  fort  on  the  Tennessee 
River,  about  thirty  miles  from  where  Knoxville  now 
stands.  In  1758  the  celebrated  Colonel  Bird  erected 
another  fort.  These  forts  held  garrisons  of  several  hun- 
dred men,  and  were  mounted  with  cannon.  Despite 
the  strength  of  these  outposts  they  were  overwhelmed 
by  the  Indians,  and  their  garrisons  destroyed  or  force'd 
into  disgraceful  retreat.  The  influence  of  the  French 
made  it  impossible  to  effect  any  permanent  agreement 
with  the  savages.  Thus  the  early  settlers  who  moved 
into  Kentucky  were  compelled  to  face  the  dangers  of 
combat  with  warlike  tribes,  emboldened  by  success  in 
their  combats  with  the  whites. 

The  singular  feature  about  all  these  early  wander- 
ings in  Kentucky  is,  that  although  they  had  been  going 
on  for  thirty  years   or   more,   many  of    the  explorers 


Qti  KENTUCKY. 

returning  two  or  three  times  to  the  ground,  they  were 
moved  more  by  the  spirit  of  adventure  than  by  any  dis- 
tinct love  of  gain  or  'idea  of  permanent  settlement.  To 
make  a  perilous  journey  into  the  dark  and  bloody  bat- 
tle-ground of  the  Indians,  aud  then  to  return  with  many 
stories  of  hair -breadth  escapes  and  a  scalp  or  two, 
seems  to  have  been  the  motive  and  the  end  of  these 
numerous  expeditions.  It  is  noteworthy  that  there  is 
no  trace  of  a  search  for  precious  metals  in  all  these  ex- 
peditions. That  greed  of  gold,  which  was  so  prominent 
a  feature  in  the  early  explorations  of  Virginia,  was 
wanting  in  the  colonization  of  Kentucky.  This  desire, 
never  so  strong  in  the  English  as  in  the  Spanish  set- 
tlers of  America,  appears  to  have  been  quite  dead  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  in  the  colo- 
nies of  the  former  people.  About  1770  the  favorable 
reports  of  these  explorers  began  to  move  the  minds  of 
a  more  agricultural  class,  and  from  that  time  onward 
the  idea  of  colonization  and  possession  became  more 
common.  The  system  of  the  Virginia  land-office,  which 
permitted  people  to  "  locate  "  on  any  unoccupied  land, 
making  their  own  surveys  and  marking  their  own  boun- 
daries, favored  this  first  stage  of  settlement. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

EARLY    SETTLEMENTS. 

The  first  distinct  effort  to  found  a  colony  was  made 
by  James  Harrod  and  about  forty  companions,  who 
found  their  way  down  the  Ohio  near  to  where  Louis- 
ville now  stands,  and  thence  by  land  to  what  is  now 
Mercer  County,  in  Central  Kentucky,  where  they  estab- 
lished, on  June  1G,  1774,  a  village  which  they  called,  in 
honor  of  their  leader,  Harrodsburg.  Earlier  attempts 
at  settlement  were  made  at  Louisville,  but  the  fear  of 
Indians  caused  the  speedy  abandonment  of  this  post. 
At  other  points  the  explorers  occasionally  made  tempo- 
rary habitations,  tilled  a  crop  of  maize  for  subsistence, 
and  then  continued  their  wanderings.  But  Harrodsburg 
was  the  first  deliberate  settlement  of  importance,  and 
the  first  that  was  intended  to  be  permanent.1  In  1775 
other  and  stronger  footholds  were  gained.  Boone  built 
a  fort  in  what  is  now  Madison  County,  and  Logan  an- 
other at  St.  Asaphs,  in  Lincoln  County. 

The  settlement  of  Kentucky  was  greatly  favored  by 
the  decisive  victory  gained  by  Lord  Dunmore's  troops 
over  the  Indians  from  the  north  of  the  Ohio,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Kanawha.  This  battle,  known  as  Point 
Pleasant,  was  the  first  pitched  battle  between  the  Ohio 
Indians  and  the  whites,  in  which  the  savages  had  no 
aid  from  the  French.  Although  the  Indians  fought 
1  See  Collins,  ii.  p.  517. 


68  KENTUCKY. 

with  great  bravery,  prolonging  the  combat  for  a  whole 
clay,  they  were  in  the  end  completely  l-outed,  with  great 
loss,  and  signed  a  treaty  abandoning  the  whole  country 
south  of  the  Ohio  to  the  whites.  The  signal  nature  of 
their  defeat,  even  more  than  their  treaty,  caused  the 
principal  Ohio  tribes  for  several  years  to  be  wary  of 
venturing  into  Kentucky,  where  they  knew  they  would 
encounter  men  of  the  same  quality.  This  victory,  though 
bought  with  a  loss  of  about  one  hundred  of  the  colonial 
troops,  was  of  priceless  value  to  the  Kentucky  settle- 
ments. It  not  only  diminished  the  fear  of  the  Ohio 
Indians  in  this  colony,  but  for  a  time,  at  least,  it  opened 
the  road  to  Kentucky  by  way  of  the  Ohio.  Moreover, 
as  many  of  the  heroes  of  Point  Pleasant  afterward 
settled  in  Kentucky,  it  gave  confidence  to  its  settlers  in 
their  subsequent  comhats  with  the  aborigines. 

That  the  process  of  possessing  the  land  was  going 
on  with  speed  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  Hender- 
son and  Company,  land-agents  at  Boonesborough,  issued 
from  their  office  in  the  new-built  fort  entry  certificates 
of  surveys  for  five  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  acres  of 
land.  The  process  of  survey  was  of  the  rudest  kind, 
but  it  served  the  purpose  of  momentary  definition  of  the 
areas  made  it  possible  to  deal  with  the  land  as  a  com- 
modity, and  left  the  tribulations  concerning  boundaries 
to  the  next  generation.  These  land  deeds  were  given 
as  of  the  "  colony  of  Transylvania,"  which  was  in  fact 
the  first  appellation  of  Kentucky,  a  name  by  which  it 
was  known  for  several  years  before  it  received  its  pres- 
ent appellation. 

At  this  time,  the  last  year  that  the  work  of  settling 
Kentucky  was  done  under  the  authority  of  his  majesty 
King  George  the  Third,  there  were  probably  about  one 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  69 

hundred  and  fifty  men  who  hud  placed  themselves  in 
settlements  that  were  intended  to  be  permanent  within 
the  bounds  of  what  is  now  the  Commonwealth  of  Ken- 
tucky. There  may  have  been  as  many  more  doing  the 
endless  exploring  work  which  preceded  the  choice  of  a 
site  for  their  future  homes.  The  men  at  Boone's  Sta- 
tion claimed,  and  seem  to  have  been  awai'ded,  a  sort  of 
hegemony  among  the  settlements.  On  the  23d  of  May, 
at  the  call  of  Colonel  Henderson,  the  land-agent  of  the 
proprietors,  delegates  from  these  settlements  met  at 
Boonesborough,  and  drew  up  a  brief  code  of  nine  laws 
for  the  government  of  the  young  Commonwealth.  This, 
the  first  legislative  body  ever  assembled  in  the  region 
west  of  the  Alleghanies,  met  with  all  the  important 
forms  of  a  colonial  government.  The  speech  of  the  act- 
ing governor,  Colonel  Henderson,  reads  like  the  address 
of  a  British  sovereign  from  the  throne,  with  a  slight 
addition  of  frontier  flourishes.  The  chairman  of  the 
convention  answered  him  in  equally  formal  phrase, 
and,  after  a  day  or  two  of  preamble,  the  unhoused  par- 
liament proceeded  to  business,  passing  the  following 
laws  1 :  — 

1.  An  act  to  establish  courts  of  judicature  and  regu- 
lating the  practice  therein. 

2.  An  act  for  regulating  the  militia. 

3.  An  act  for  the  punishment  of  criminals. 

4.  An  act  to  prevent  profane  swearing  and  Sabbath- 
breaking. 

5.  An  act  for  writs  of  attachment. 

6.  An  act  for  ascertaining  clerks'  and  sheriffs'  fees. 

7.  An  act  to  preserve  the  range  (that  is,  the  right 
of  public  pasture). 

1  See  Collins's  Kentucky,  vol.  ii.  p.  508. 


70  KENTUCKY. 

8.  An  act  for  preserving  the  breed  of  horses. 

9.  An  act  for  preserving  game. 

The  foregoing  laws  have  not  come  down  to  us  in 
detail ;  we  have  only  their  titles,  two  of  which  merit 
notice.  The  Puritanic  quality  of  the  fourth  of  thes& 
commandments  is  balanced  by  the  livelier  quality  oi 
the  eighth.1 

The  Boonesborongh  parliament  adjourned  to  meet 
in  September,  but  it  never  reassembled.  The  venture 
which  led  to  its  institution  fell  altogether  to  ruin,  and 
the  name  of  Transylvania  has  been  almost  entirely  for- 
gotten. We  cannot  afford  the  space  to  give  more  than 
an  outline  of  this  curious  fragment  of  Western  history. 

The  colony  of  Transylvania  rested  on  a  purchase  of 
about  seventeen  million  acres,  or  about  one  half  the 
present  area  of  Kentucky,  which  was  made  by  some 
people  of  North  Carolina  from  the  Overhill  Cherokee 
Indians,  a  part  of  the  great  tribe  that  dwelt  on  the 
Holston  River.  For  this  land  the  unfortunate  adven- 
turers paid  the  sum  of  £10,000  of  English  money. 
This  was  a  form  of  land-grabbing  by  purchase  from  the 
Indians  peculiar  to  the  eighteenth  century  ;  it  not  hav. 
ing  been  at  that  time  well  affirmed  that  while  States 
could  cheat  Indians  out  of  their  possessions  the  privi- 
lege was  denied  the  private  citizen.  The  Cherokees 
knew  full  well  that  in  fact  they  had  no  title  in  this 
land  to  sell ;  the  land  had  probably  never  been  in  their 
possession  ;  it  was  more  of  the  nature  of  unowned  land 
than    any  other  fertile  district  in  the  Mississippi  Val- 

1  The  first  race  track  in  Kentucky  was  laid  out  about  1775,  at 
Shallow  Ford  Station.  A  man  engaged  in  trying  the  paces  of  his 
horse  upon  this  track  was  shot  by  an  Indian  secreted  in  a  neighbor- 
ing cane-brake.     See  Collins,  ii.  p.  521. 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  71 

ley ;  it  was,  in  fact,  a  lot  of  comruou  ground  where 
there  was  no  lord  of  the  manor. 

Immediately  after  the  Boonesborough  parliament  the 
position  of  the  Transylvania  company  became  very  in- 
secure ;  its  own  people  began  to  doubt  the  validity  of 
the  titles  they  had  obtained  from  the  company,  because, 
after  a  time,  they  learned  from  various  sources  that 
the  lands  of  this  region  of  Kentucky  had  been  pre- 
viously ceded  to  the  English  government  by  the  Six 
Nations,  and  were  included  in  the  Virginia  charter.  In 
the  latter  part  of  1775  eighty  men  of  the  Transylvania 
settlement  signed  a  memorial  asking  to  be  taken  under 
the  protection  of  Virginia  ;  or,  if  that  colony  thought  it 
best,  that  their  petition  might  be  referred  to  the  Gen- 
eral Congress.  This  protest  is  a  remarkably  sober  and 
well-written  document,  which  gives  us  a  high  opinion 
of  the  character  of  the  men  who  prepared  it.1 

The  proprietors  of  the  colony  made  their  answer  to 
this  rebellion  by  sending  a  delegate  to  the  Federal 
Congress  at  Philadelphia,  who  was  to  request  that  the 
colony  of  Transylvania  be  added  to  the  number  of  the 
American  colonies.  Their  petition  set  forth  that  "  the 
memorialists,  having  made  this  purchase  from  the  abo- 
rigines and  immemorial  possessors,  the  sole  and  uncon- 
tested owners  of  the  country,  in  a  free  and  open  treaty, 
and  without  the  violation  of  any  British  or  American 
law  whatever,  are  determined  to  give  it  up  only  with 
their  lives."  2  Nothing  came  of  this  protest.  Congress 
refused  to  seat  their  delegate,  Patrick  Henry  and  Jef- 
ferson, then  representing  Virginia,  opposing  the  efforts 
of  the  proprietors.     The  Governor  of  North  Carolina 

1  See  Hall's  Sketches  of  History  in  the  ]\'esl,  vol.  ii.  pp.  236-239. 

2  Collins,  ii.  p.  512. 


72  KENTUCKY. 

issued  a  proclamation  declaring  their  purchase  illegal. 
The  colony  gradually  fell  to  pieces,  though  the  State 
of  Virginia  took  no  decided  action  with  reference  to  it 
until  in  1778  that  Commonwealth  declared  the  acts  of 
the  company  void,  but,  in  a  generous  spirit,  offered  com- 
pensation to  Colonel  Henderson  and  the  other  adven- 
turers. The  Transylvania  company  received  two  hun- 
dred thousand  acres  of  valuable  lands,  and  their  sales  to 
actual  settlers  were  confirmed  by  an  act  of  the  Virginia 
Assembly. 

Thus  the  strongest,  though  not  the  first,  colony  of 
Kentucky,  was  a  misadventure  and  quickly  fell  to 
pieces,  but  during  its  short  life  it  did  more  to  affirm  the 
position  of  the  whites  on  this  ground  than  all  the  other 
settlements  put  together.  That  at  Harrodsburg  and 
other  ventures  beyond  the  Transylvania  company's  con- 
trol were  made  without  any  moral  support  from  beyond 
the  mountains.  Although  the  men  who  founded  them 
were  doubtless  personally  brave,  they  had  not  the  cour- 
age to  face  at  once  the  toils  of  the  wilderness  and  the 
assaults  of  the  savage  foe.  The  Boonesborough  settle- 
ments were  planted  by  men  of  peculiar  vigor,  and  were 
supported  by  a  set  of  very  resolute  people,  acting  as  a 
corporation,  who  had  means  and  courage  to  meet  emer- 
gencies. Moreover,  they  were  in  a  position  to  exercise 
some  choice  in  the  character  of  their  colonists ;  they  saw 
to  it  that  only  men  of  character  and  courage  were  per- 
mitted in  the  district. 

As  the  Indians  did  not  occupy  Kentucky,  but  only 
used  it  as  an  occasional  hunting-ground,  it  was  not  diffi- 
cult for  the  wary  explorer  to  journey  all  over  the  laud 
without  encountering  their  parties ;  nor  were  the  sav- 
ages likely  to  become  excited  by  the  temporary  pres- 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  73 

ence  in  this  country  of  small  bauds  of  the  whites, 
who  sought  to  exercise  no  possession.  When,  how- 
ever, these  wandering  parties  began  to  establish  them- 
selves on  the  grouud  the  matter  seemed  more  serious  to 
them.  No  sooner  had  the  Harrodsburg  settlement 
been  founded  than  the  Indians  assaulted  its  people.  Al- 
though the  loss  from  this  assault  amounted  to  but  one 
man  killed,  his  companions  were  so  frightened  that  for 
a  time  they  deserted  their  home ;  some  of  the  panic- 
stricken  folk  escaping  through  the  woods  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  thence  to  New  Orleans,  while  the  others 
returned  to  Virginia  by  the  way  they  came.  A  portion 
of  these  people  returned  the  next  year  after  the  vigor- 
ous colony  of  Boonesborough  was  founded,  and  re- 
founded  their  village  under  the  shadow  of  its  protection. 
It  will  not  do  to  impute  cowardice  to  these  lonely  pio- 
neers. We  can  conceive  their  position  in  this  vast  and 
unexplored  forest  land,  without  even  a  road  to  bind 
them  to  their  far-off  mother  country ;  where  at  any 
moment  an  overwhelming  force  of  fierce  enemies  might 
spring  from  the  dark  woods.  The  greatest  difficulty 
was  to  bring  these  little  bands  to  a  sense  that  they 
could  by  determination  meet  and  make  an  end  of  these 
dangers  ;  that  all  alone  in  the  wilderness  they  could 
deal  with  this  savage  foe  who  had  so  recently  beaten 
the  armies  of  Braddock  and  of  Washington.  This  les- 
son of  patient,  enduring  courage  was  taught  by  the 
Transylvania  company  ;  it  could  not  well  have  been 
gained  except  through  such  strength  as  this  vigorous 
and  determined  company  gave  to  its  settlements. 

The  history  of  the  assaults  on  the  Boonesborough 
station  is  much  like  a  host  of  other  histories  of  West- 
ern settlements,  but  it  has  for  us  a  special  interest  for 


74  KENTUCKY. 

the  reason  that  the  attacks  took  place  in  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  struggle  of  outlying  settlements  with  the 
Indians  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  that  they  were 
met  by  small  parties  of  isolated  men,  who  could  hope 
for  no  aid  of  state  or  national  government,  and  who 
had  no  resource  except  what  they  found  in  themselves, 
or  might  obtain  from  the  proprietors  of  the  colony. 

The  first  task  of  the  Transylvania  company  was  to 
cut  a  "  trail  "  or  horse-way  from  the  Holston  Valley  to 
Central  Kentucky  ;  this  work  was  done  under  the  com- 
mand of  Daniel  Boone,  then  a  servant  of  the  company. 
It  was  an  undertaking  of  no  great  difficulty,  as  the  only 
aim  was  to  make  a  way  passable  to  pack-horses,  but  it 
was  a  work  which  required  some  time.  The  party  con- 
structing this  road  was  observed  by  the  bunting  parties 
of  the  Indians,  and  their  undertaking  was  seen  to  be  a 
more  serious  matter  than  the  previous  desultory  inva- 
sions of  their  land.1  The  first  engagement  between  the 
whites  and  Indians  on  Kentucky  soil  came  at  the  end  of 
this  task  of  road-making.  Boone  and  his  men  were 
sleeping  without  guards,  when  just  before  day  the  In- 
dians rushed  into  the  camp.  A  portion  of  the  company 
was  put  to  flight,  which  did  not  end  until  they  were  safe 
in  Virginia,  but  the  remainder  rallied  and  held  their 
ground.  A  negro  servant  was  killed  ;  Captain  Twetty, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  party,  was  killed ;  and  a  young 
man,  Felix  Walker,  wounded.  The  success  of  the 
whites  in  beating  off  the  Indians,  their  courage  in  wait- 
ing under  arms  by  the  side  of  their  wounded  man  for 
twelve  days  until  they  could  carry  him  to  the  site  of  the 
fort  which  they  intended  to  build,  were  fortunate  for 
the  future  Commonwealth,  for  they  thereby  gained  a 
1  See  Collins,  ii.  p.  497. 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  75 

confidence  which  enabled  the  little  band  to  meet  yet 
more  serious  perils.  Two  days  later  the  same  party 
of  Indians  assailed  another  camp  and  killed  two  men. 
Boone's  letter  to  Colonel  Henderson  gives  us  the  first 
clear  view  of  that  coolj  intrepid  man,  who  was  to  do  so 
much  for  the  early  settlement  of  Kentucky.1  Collins, 
in  his  History  of  Kentucky,  gives  extracts  from  the 
very  interesting  diary  of  Colonel  Henderson.  This  man 
was  one  of  the  heroes  of  his  time.  Born  in  Eastern 
Virginia,  of  poor  parents,  ignorant  of  the  alphabet  until 
he  came  to  man's  estate,  he  forced  himself  by  sheer 
strength  to  a  high  position  as  a  leader  of  men.  After 
the  dissolution  of  his  colony  he  settled  in  the  great  do- 
main which  Virginia  granted  to  himself  and  his  asso- 
ciates in  compensation  for  their  efforts  in  founding  the 
Transylvania  colony.  His  diary  shows  that  he  was  one 
of  the  few  frontiersmen  who  could  admire  the  beauties 
of  the  world  about  him  even  amid  the  cares  that  beset 
the  colonist.'2 

Bringing  their  wounded  man  with  them,  Boone  has- 
tened to  the  point  on  the  Kentucky  River  which  he  had 
chosen  for  his  stronghold.  The  position  was  well 
taken.  It  was  on  the  south  side  of  the  principal  river 
of  the  State,  sufficiently  advanced  to  protect  a  large 
tract  of  country  by  receiving  the  blow  of  invasions,  and 
not  too  remote  to  hope  to  maintain  its  connections  with 
the  base  of  supplies  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 
The  settlements  in  East  Tennessee  defended  this  part 
of  Kentucky  from  the  Southern  Indians. 

The  Virginia  experience  with  Indian  warfare  had  al- 
ready shown  the  best  method  of  making  a  simple  fortifi- 
cation that  would  serve  well  both  for  shelter  and  for  de- 
i  Collins,  ii.  p.  498.  2  Collins,  ii.  p.  500. 


76  KENTUCKY. 

fense  against  savage  warfare.  The  Boonesborough  fort 
is  a  type  of  all  these  early  fortifications,  and  as  the  first 
Kentucky  stronghold  merits  a  brief  description.  The 
fort  was  laid  out  as  a  parallelogram,  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  long  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet 
wide  ;  at  the  four  corners  log-houses,  each  two  stories 
high,  were  built ;  the  part  of  the  walls  of  those  block- 
houses that  lay  beyond  the  fort  were  without  windows, 
but  pierced  with  loopholes,  from  which  a  clearing  fire 
could  be  delivered  along  the  curtains  of  the  fort.  The 
sides  were  formed  in  part  by  the  outer  walls  of  cabins, 
and  in  part  by  lines  of  stockade,  made  by  placing 
squared  timbers  vertically  in  the  ground  and  binding 
them  together  by  a  horizontal  stringer  or  stay-piece  on 
the  inside  near  the  top.  The  steep  roofs  of  the  houses 
were  covered  with  thick  slabs  of  riven  beams,  held  in 
their  places  by  means  of  horizontal  bars  of  wood  laid 
upon  them  and  tied  by  withes  to  the  rafters.  Iron  was 
little  used  in  these  early  constructions  of  the  wilderness, 
and  to  this  day  houses  are  built  in  the  mountain  dis- 
tricts of  Kentucky  which  do  not  contain  a  pound  of  the 
metal.  Two  gates  of  stout  framed  wood  in  the  middle 
of  the  longer  side,  commanded  on  the  inside  by  the 
small  windows  on  the  inside  faces  of  the  houses,  and  on 
the  outside  by  the  loopholes  of  the  block-houses,  com- 
pleted the  outlines  of  this  primitive  castle.  As  long  as 
artillery  was  not  used  —  and  in  the  early  fights  it  usu- 
ally had  no  place  —  such  defenses  were  all  that  could  be 
desired.  The  central  square  gave  a  large  space  for  herd- 
ing cattle.  Each  cabin  was  separately  defensible,  and 
the  tolerably  complete  separation  of  the  several  houses 
made  them  safe  from  conflagrations  ;  one  cabin  could  be 
burned  without  involving  the  destruction  of  the  others. 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  77 

This  system  of  a  defensive  village  differs  in  certain 
ways  from  anything  known  in  other  countries.  I  have 
been  unable  to  find  that  it  had  been  used  at  an  earlier 
period  in  other  parts  of  America  outside  of  the  Southern 
colonies  :  it  probably  never  was  used  in  Europe.  It  is 
likely  that  it  is  a  modification  of  the  Indian  stockade,  al- 
ready known  to  the  early  settlers.  It  is  an  admirable 
adaptation  of  the  defensive  quality  of  the  log-house  to 
the  modern  rifle  ;  when  defended  by  a  score  or  two  of 
deliberate  and  determined  men,  such  a  fort  cannot  be 
taken  by  escalade,  for  each  block-house  is  a  keep  that 
has  to  be  taken  by  a  special  assault.  The  only  risk  is 
from  an  enemy  being  able  to  fire  the  houses,  but  with  a 
sufficient  supply  of  water  a  fire  can  readily  be  extin- 
guished from  the  inside.  Although  there  was  no  care 
in  providing  these  structures  with  a  moat  or  ditch,  they 
proved  remarkably  successful  forts,  and  were  never  car- 
ried against  a  reasonably  good  resistance.  This  pattern 
of  stronghold  became  the  type  of  all  stations  constructed 
in  Kentucky  and  elsewhere. 

The  weapon  of  these  pioneers,  the  small-bored,  long, 
heavy-barreled  rifle,  was  the  best  gun  that  has  ever 
been  used  by  the  frontiersman  in  the  forest.  Its  small 
charge  made  the  supply  of  lead  and  powder  less  diffi- 
cult than  it  would  otherwise  have  been,  and  up  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  (the  ordinary  limit  of  forest 
ranges). it  was  an  exceedingly  accurate  weapon.  With 
one  hundred  sturdy  men  for  a  garrison  it  would  be  very 
difficult  to  take  such  a  fortification,  even  with  well-dis- 
ciplined troops ;  against  Indian  attacks  it  never  failed 
to  prove  a  sufficient  defense. 

The  contest  with  the  Indians  went  on  in  a  desultory 
way  while  the  Boonesborough  fort  was  building ;  but  it 


78  KENTUCKY. 

was  not  until  two  years  after  its  construction,  when  the 
Revolutionary  War  had  begun  and  Point  Pleasant  had 
been  forgotten,  that  the  Indians  assailed  it  in  force. 
On  the  15th  of  April,  1777,  a  fierce  assault  was  made 
upon  it  by  a  small  party  of  savages  ;  but  the  Indians 
were  beaten  off  with  considerable  loss,  while  that  of  the 
whites  was  trifling.  On  the  4th  of  July  of  the  same 
year  another  attack  was  made,  in  which  the  Indians 
again  lost  so  heavily  that  they  hurriedly  left  the  coun- 
try. 

On  the  8th  of  August,  1778,  they  returned  in  much 
larger  force.  The  attack  which  they  now  made  was 
not  like  the  others,  a  mere  raid  of  wandering  parties  ; 
the  Revolutionary  War  was  now  so  far  advanced  that 
the  savages  were  under  the  lead  of  British  officers,  and 
under  their  direction  acted  with  far  more  skill  than 
they  could  do  alone.  In  this  last  great  attack  the  fort 
was  summoned  by  a  British  officer  acting  under  his  own 
flag,  so  that  this  capital  little  event  deserves  a  place 
among  the  actions  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  When 
summoned  to  surrender,  Boone  obtained  two  days  for 
deliberation,  which  appears  to  have  been  granted  under 
singular  conditions,  for  it  is  stated  that  he  used  the 
time  in  getting  the  cattle  into  the  fort,  and  in  other 
preparations  for  resistance.  He  then,  with  the  unani- 
mous approval  of  his  garrison,  resolved  to  withstand  a 
siege.  After  this  well-contrived  beginning,  Boone,  who 
seems  to  have  had  a  rather  unsuspicious  nature,  ac- 
cepted an  invitation  to  go  with  eight  of  his  men  be- 
yond the  walls  of  the  fort  for  further  treaty.  After 
some  parleying  the  enemy  attempted  to  capture  the 
party,  but  they  escaped  to  the  fort  under  a  fire  that 
wounded  only  one  man.     The  active  siege  of  several 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  79 

days  proved  fatal  to  a  large  number  of  the  assailants. 
The  British  commander  then  endeavored  to  drive  a  tun- 
nel from  the  river  bank  into  the  fort ;  but  this  was  dis- 
covered in  time,  and  effectually  countermined  by  the 
defenders.  On  the  next  day  the  siege  was  raised,  the 
Indians  having  sustained  a  loss,  it  is  said,  of  thirty- 
seven  killed,  while  the  loss  of  the  garrison  was  only 
two  killed  and  four  wounded. 

After  this,  the  last  siege  of  Boonesborough,  the  forti- 
fied posts  of  Kentucky  were  rapidly  pushed  into  the 
fertile  and  attractive  Blue  Grass  region  of  Central  Ken- 
tucky, and  soon  became  so  numerous  that  Boone's  Sta- 
tion was  no  longer  of  importance,  and  other  posts  re- 
ceived the  blows  which  the  Indians  delivered  against 
the  increasing  settlements. 

In  December,  1776,  Kentucky  County  was  divided 
from  the  County  of  Fincastle  in  Virginia,  Harrodsburg 
being  designated  as  a  county  seat.  This  was  the  first 
legislative  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  mother  colony 
of  the  individuality  of  the  western  settlements.  Hith- 
erto Kentucky  had  beeu  legally  only  the  western  fringe 
of  the  outermost  Virginia  county. 

The  pressure  of  the  Revolutionary  War  upon  the  re- 
sources of  Virginia  was  so  serious  that  we  find  no  rec- 
ognition of  the  Kentucky  settlements  during  the  year 
1777.  But  in  1778,  the  raids  of  the  Indians  in  Ken- 
tucky having  evidently  been  instigated  by  the  British, 
Colonel  George  Rogers  Clark,  who  was  afterward  to 
play  a  large  part  in  Western  affairs,  was  sent  with  an 
expedition  against  the  posts  in  Illinois.  With  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five  men,  mostly  persons  who  had  been 
trained  in  Indian  warfare,  he  made  a  very  remarkable 
forced  march  through    the   wilderness    from    the  Ohio 


80  KENTUCKY. 

River  to  Kaskaskia,  and  captured  the  place  by  surprise. 
In  swift  succession  he  took  Cahokia  and  Vincennes. 
Coming  in  the  same  summer  with  the  great  failure  of 
the  British  and  Indians  in  the  third  siege  of  Boones- 
borough,  these  important  events  did  much  to  affirm  the 
position  of  the  Kentucky  settlements.  The  pioneers 
were  yet  to  endure  severe  tests,  but  their  achievements 
gave  them  a  measure  of  their  strength  and  a  gauge  of 
valorous  actions,  so  that  henceforth  they  felt  strong 
enough  to  maintain  their  place.  Their  victories  made 
the  ground  seem  their  own. 

At  the  end  of  his  campaign  Clark  built  a  fort  at  the 
falls  of  the  Ohio,  the  first  stronghold  on  this  stream. 
By  one  of  his  swift  movements  he  repossessed  himself 
in  February,  1779,  of  Vincennes,  which  the  British 
from  Detroit,  under  Governor  Hamilton,  had  recaptured 
in  December.  In  the  next  year,  inspired  by  the  suc- 
cess of  his  campaigns,  another  movement  was  carried 
north  from  the  Ohio  against  the  Indians  at  Chillicothe. 
This  expedition  was  beaten  back  to  Kentucky,  but  the 
Indian  town  was  burned  and  two  chiefs  killed. 

By  the  end  of  this  year  that  part  of  Kentucky  which 
lies  north  of  the  Kentucky  River  had  been  occupied 
by  several  small  stations.  Notwithstanding  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  perhaps  in  part  on  account  of  the  dis- 
turbances which  it  brought  about  in  Eastern  Virginia,  a 
heavy  immigration  into  Kentucky  began  in  1780.  The 
annual  tide  of  immigration  in  this  and  the  following 
years  must  have  amounted  to  at  least  five  thousand 
souls  per  annum.  Three  hundred  boats,  containing  at 
least  three  thousand  people,  descended  the  Ohio  to 
Louisville  this  year.  Monette  estimates  that  the  popu- 
lation in  1783  amounted  to  about  12,000.    In  1784  it  is 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  81 

estimated  that  it  amounted  to  30,000.  In  this  and 
many  following  years  the  work  of  war  and  settlement 
went  on  together.  A  column  of  British  and  Indians 
about  six  hundred  strong,  with  two  pieces  of  artillery, 
penetrated  Eastern  Kentucky  and  captured  two  stations 
near  where  Paris  now  stands.  They  did  not  remain  to 
try  conclusions  with  the  settlers,  who  swiftly  gathered 
to  meet  them,  but  escaped  in  safety  to  Detroit,  whence 
they  came.  The  blow  was  revenged  by  a  counter 
stroke  from  the  ever  ready  Clark,  who  first  built  a 
block-house  fort  at  Cincinnati,  where  the  British  had 
crossed  the  stream,  to  guard  against  future  raids  up  the 
Licking  Valley,  and  then  went  northwards  to  ravage 
the  towns  of  Piqua  and  Chillicothe. 

Settlements  now  began  to  spring  up  all  over  the  area 
of  good  lands.  The  Virginia  government  erected  a  fort 
on  the  Mississippi,  a  few  miles  below  the  junction  of  the 
Ohio,  thus  marking  the  westernmost  limits  of  the  col- 
ony. The  original  county  of  Kentucky  was  divided 
into  three :  Jefferson,  Lincoln,  and  Fayette,  each  with  a 
military  commander  having  the  rank  of  colonel,  who 
had  under  him' a  surveyor-general  of  lands. 

The  year  1781  was  an  uneventful  one,  the  only  seri- 
ous action  being  an  assault  on  the  garrison  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi fort  by  the  Chickasaws  and  Clierokees,  which, 
though  repulsed,  was  ominous  of  trouble  to  come,  for  it 
brought  those  tribes,  which  had  previously  given  little 
trouble  to  the  whites,  into  the  list  of  their  numerous 
enemies. 

The  establishment  of  this  fort  was  the  work  of  Gov- 
ernor Jefferson.  It  was  an  unnecessary  demonstration 
of  energy,  sucli  as  is  apt  to  happen  when  an  effort  is 
made  to  manage  the  difficult  business  of  governing  a 
6 


82  KENTUCKY. 

colony  with  a  long  arm.  Against  this  blunder  we  may 
set  the  general  sagacity  and  liberality  of  Virginia's  man- 
agement of  Kentucky  affairs.  Even  in  the  distress 
of  the  Revolution,  she  had  always  something  to  spare 
for  her  more  sorely  tried  children  of  the  western  hills, 
and  no  Virginian  ever  had  a  warmer  heart  towards 
Kentucky  than  Jefferson.  He  had  a  keen  imagination, 
and  a  singular  power  of  projecting  his  sympathies  afar. 
In  the  preceding  year  he  had  secured  a  large  gift  of 
lands  for  the  work  of  education  in  Kentucky.  Virginia 
had  nothing  else  to  give,  and  the  gift  was  an  easy  one 
to  make  ;  but  it  deserves  to  be  remembered  that  in  the 
time  of  severest  trial  the  mother  colony  bethought  her- 
self of  the  intellectual  interests  of  these  far-away  chil- 
dren. 

In  1782,  the  struggle  with  the  British  and  Indians 
was  even  more  fierce  and  sanguinary  than  in  the  pre- 
ceding years.  In  March,  a  party  of  about  seventy-five 
Wyandot  Indians  crossed  the  Kentucky  River  above 
Boonesborough  ;  their  presence  in  the  country  was  made 
known  by  the  fact  that  a  raft  which  they  had  used 
in  crossing  the  river,  and  then  turned  adrift,  floated  by 
the  fort.  The  commander  of  the  fort,  who  with  the 
sagacity  of  the  frontiersman  correctly  interpreted  this 
sign,  sent  runners  to  warn  the  neighboring  stations. 
The  men  of  Estill's  Station  went  in  search  of  the  enemy, 
but  in  the  chances  of  the  forest  did  not  come  upon  the 
savages  until  they  had  been  to  the  station  and  killed  a 
young  woman  within  sight  of  the  fort.  Near  Mount 
Sterling  the  pursuing  whites  caught  up  with  the  enemy 
and  at  once  assailed  them.  At  first  the  Indians  were 
driven  back,  but  their  chief  being  sorely  wounded  they 
rallied    about    him.     The  whites    followed    their  usual 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  83 

tactics,  and  detached  six  of  their  twenty-five  men  to 
turn  the  Indian  flank  and  deprive  them  of  the  protec- 
tion that  the  timber  afforded  them.  These  men  of  the 
flanking  party  were  seized  with  a  panic  and  fled  ;  the 
remaining  Indians  rushed  upon  the  diminished  force  of 
the  whites,  and  after  a  fierce  hand-to-hand  struggle 
drove  them  from  the  ground.  Estill,  the  commander, 
was  killed,  and  six  of  his  men  met  their  death  from  the 
tomahawk.  Measured  by  the  forces  engaged  or  the  loss 
in  killed,  the  affair  was  a  trifling  one ;  but  it  showed  in 
the  Indians  a  quality  of  determination  which  indicated 
that  they  were  becoming  better  skilled  and  steadier  in 
warfare,  and  that  they  were,  numbers  for  numbers,  quite 
the  equal  of  the  whites. 

In  August  of  this  year,  a  party  of  whites,  under  Cap- 
tain Holder,  attacked  a  party  of  Indians  at  the  upper 
Blue  Licks,  and  was  worsted,  with  a  loss  of  four  men. 
In  the  same  month  a  force  of  six  hundred  Indians  be- 
longing to  various  tribes,  and  commanded  by  the  famous 
Simon  Girty,  moved  unseen  across  the  northern  part 
of  the  State  and  surprised  Bryan's  Station,  situated  at 
a  point  about  five  miles  north  of  Lexington.  Fortu- 
nately, the  fifty  men  of  the  station  were  engaged  in  night 
preparations  for  an  expedition  to  avenge  Holder's  de- 
feat. This  deterred  Girty  from  his  purpose  of  carrying 
the  neglected  and  weak  fortification  by  storm,  for  the 
notes  of  preparation  within  it  satisfied  him  that  his 
movement  was  discovered.  But  it  was  not  until  the 
gate  was  thrown  open  to  permit  the  marching  forth 
of  the  command  on  their  way  to  the  Blue  Licks  that 
a  volley  from  the  savages  showed  the  whites  that  they 
had  a  foe  at  their  doors.  They  were  in  no  condition 
for  effective  defense ;  their  palisades  needed  repair,  and 


84  KENTUCKY. 

the  fort  was  destitute  of  water,  the  spring  being  at  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  gates.  This  want  of 
water  was  a  common  difficulty  in  these  stations,  and  in 
several  sieges  led  to  great  suffering.  At  first  sight  it 
seems  a  very  stupid  neglect  of  the  most  ordinary  pre- 
cautions, yet,  like  the  other  stupidities  of  a  clear-headed 
and  generally  prudent  people,  it  admits  of  explanation. 
The  first  necessity  of  a  station  was  that  it  should  have 
a  salubrious  site,  and  this  is  never  obtainable  at  points 
where  a  spring  breaks  forth.  The  fact  that  at  almost 
any  point  in  Kentucky  a  well  will  procure  water  was 
as  yet  unknown,  and  was  against  the  prevailing  opinion 
of  the  time,  which  was  that  the  water  all  ran  in  special 
underground  streams.  Some  notice  of  invasions  was 
always  hoped  for,  giving  time  for  water  enough  to  be 
stored  in  the  fort  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  siege. 

The  garrison  of  the  station  acted  quickly  and  effect- 
ually. Two  mounted  messengers  at  once  broke  through 
the  Indian  lines  to  carry  warning  to  other  stations. 
Everything  depended  on  these  runners  getting  away, 
and  many  of  the  most  valorous  acts  of  this  border  war- 
fare centre  around  these  sallies.  Then  the  women  were 
told  that  the  safety  of  the  fort  demanded  that  they  un- 
dertake to  bring  a  supply  of  water  from  the  spring,  the 
leaders  judging  that  the  Indians  would  not  fire  on  them, 
as  thereby  they  would  unmask  their  place  of  assault. 
The  event  showed  that  they  estimated  their  foe  rightly. 
These  brave  creatures  went  in  a  body  to  the  spring,  and 
returned  with  a  supply  large  enough  to  meet  all  needs. 
It  is  probable  that  the  reader  will  not  altogether  like 
this  episode.  It  seems  an  ungallant  thing  for  men  be- 
hind barricades  to  send  women  into  the  open  before  the 
guns  of  an   enemy.     Yet  as   we   cannot  question    the 


EARLY  SETTLE  Ml  NTS.  85 

valor  of  these  meii,  we  are  forced  to  believe  that  it  cost 
them  more  to  send  the  women  on  such  an  errand  than 
to  have  charged  upon  the  hidden  foe  ;  we  must,  how- 
ever unwillingly,  admire  the  clear-sighted  craft  that 
remedied  their  otherwise  fatal  deficiency. 

As  soon  as  the  fort  was  supplied  with  water,  the 
leader,  Captain  Craig,  made  another  shrewd  move.  A 
detachment  of  thirteen  of  the  younger  men  was  sent 
out  to  attack  the  savages,  who  had  made  a  feint  against 
the  side  of  the  fort  away  from  the  spring.  They  were 
to  fire  as  fast  as  possible  and  make  a  great  din,  in  order 
that  the  force  presumably  in  ambush  on  the  spring  side, 
supposing  that  the  whole  garrison  was  engaged  in  the 
sally,  might  make  their  contemplated  assault  on  the 
point  which  they  expected  to  find  undefended.  The  plan 
succeeded  as  it  deserved.  The  principal  body  of  the 
enemy  believed  that  the  whole  garrison  had  been  in- 
veigled into  a  battle  beyond  the  walls.  The  party  of 
Indians  making  the  feint  rapidly  fell  back,  as  they  were 
instructed  to  do,  and  as  soon  as  the  sound  of  firing 
showed  that  their  pursuers  were  far  from  the  fort,  the 
main  body  of  Indians,  several  hundred  in  number, 
sprang  from  their  hiding-places  and  rushed  upon  the 
seemingly  unmanned  wall.  They  met  the  steady  fire 
of  forty  well-aimed  rifles,  and,  after  a  courageous  as- 
sault, were  beaten  back  with  great  loss.  While  the  foe 
was  endeavoring  to  carry  this  wall,  the  party  that  had 
made  the  sally,  informed  by  the  firing  that  their  .work 
was  done,  returned  through  the  opposite  gateway,  before 
the  foe,  baffled  in  their  assault,  had  closed  around  the 
fort  for  a  regular  siege. 

The  mounted  men  who  broke  through  the  Indian 
lines  at  dawn  found  the  Lexington  garrison  on  its  way 


86  KENTUCKY. 

to  Blue  Licks.  By  hard  marching,  these  men,  a  part 
on  horseback  and  a  part  on  foot,  hastened  to  the  fort. 
Girty,  knowing  that  messengers  had  broken  out,  laid  au 
ambush  for  the  returning  forces  near  the  station,  where 
the  narrow  road  was  bordered  on  one  side  by  high  corn 
and  on  the  other  by  a  dense  wood.  The  eager  rescuers 
fell  into  the  trap,  but  the  horsemen  knew  that  to  turn 
about  would  be  fatal,  since  it  would  give  the  foe  time 
for  aiming ;  so  they  spurred  through  the  fire  and  won 
the  fort,  their  speed  and  the  cloud  of  dust  making  the 
aim  of  the  excited  savages  so  poor  that  none  of  them 
were  killed.  Scurrying  horsemen  are  bad  targets,  and 
the  western  rifle,  on  account  of  its  length  and  weight,  is 
the  worst  possible  arm  for  use  on  moving  objects  ;'  more- 
over the  Indian  appears  always  to  have  been  less  steady 
under  the  strain  of  excitement  than  the  white  man. 
The  footmen  who  were  creeping  to  the  fort  through  the 
maize  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  horsemen,  to  be  scat- 
tered before  the  tenfold  force  of  their  enemy  ;  but  most 
of  them,  owing  to  the  shelter  of  the  high-growing  In- 
dian corn,  escaped  ;  only  six  were  killed.  When  night 
came  Girty  was  discouraged.  His  force  had  lost  heav- 
ily, the  beleaguered  garrison  had  received  a  daring  re- 
enforcement,  and  he  knew  that  overwhelming  forces 
would  soon  be  upon  him  from  neighboring  stations. 
Whatever  was  to  be  done  must  be  done  at  once.  There- 
fore, sheltering  himself  in  the  darkness,  he  crept  to  a 
place  behind  a  stump,  whence  he  hailed  the  garrison 
and  demanded  their  surrender.  The  colloquy  is  so  pic- 
turesque that  we  give  it  as  Collins  tells  it : x  — 

"  He  highly  commended   their  courage,  but  assured 
them  that  further  resistance  would  be  madness,  as  he 

1  See  Collins,  ii.  p.  190. 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  87 

had  six  hundred  warriors  with  him,  and  was  in  hourly 
expectation  of  reinforcements  with  artillery,  which 
would  instantly  blow  their  cabins  into  the  air  ;  that  if 
the  fort  was  taken  by  storm,  as  it  certainly  would  be 
when  their  cannon  arrived,  it  would  be  impossible  for 
him  to  save  their  lives  ;  but  if  they  surrendered  at  once, 
he  gave  them  bis  word  that  not  a  hair  of  their  heads 
should  be  injured.  He  told  them  his  name,  inquired 
whether  they  knew  him,  and  assui*ed  them  that  they 
might  safely  trust  to  his  honor. 

"  The  garrison  listened  in  silence  to  his  speech,  and 
many  of  them  looked  very  blank  at  the  mention  of  the 
artillery,  as  the  Indians  had,  on  one  occasion,  brought 
cannon  with  them  and  destroyed  two  stations.  But  a 
young  man  by  the  name  of  Reynolds,  highly  distin- 
guished for  courage,  energy,  and  a  frolicsome  gayety 
of  temper,  perceiving  the  effect  of  Girty's  speech,  took 
upon  himself  to  reply  to  it. 

"  To  Girty's  inquiry,  '  whether  the  garrison  knew 
him,'  Reynolds  replied,  '  that  he  was  very  well  known  ; 
that  he  himself  had  a  worthless  dog,  to  which  he  had 
given  the  name  of  "  Simon  Girty,"  in  consequence  of 
his  striking  resemblance  to  the  man  of  that  name  ;  that 
if  he  had  either  artillery  or  reinforcements,  he  might 
bring  them  and  be  d — d  ;  that  if  either  himself  or  any 
of  the  naked  rascals  with  him  found  their  way  into  the 
fort,  they  would  disdain  to  use  their  guns  against  them, 
but  would  drive  them  out  again  with  switches,  of  which 
they  had  collected  a  great  number  for  that  purpose 
alone  ;  and  finally,  he  declared  that  they  also  expected 
reinforcements  ;  that  the  whole  country  was  marching 
to  their  assistance,  and  that  if  Girty  and  his  gang  of 
murderers  remained  twenty -four  hours   longer  before 


88  KENTUCKY. 

the  fort,  their  scalps  would  be  found  drying  in  the  sun 
upon  the  roofs  of  their  cabins.' 

"  Girty  took  great  offense  at  the  tone  and  language 
of  the  young  Kentuckian,  and  retired  with  an  expres- 
sion of  sorrow  for  the  inevitable  destruction  which 
awaited  them  on  the  following  morning.  He  quickly 
rejoined  the  chiefs,  and  instant  preparations  were  made 
for  raising  the  siege.  The  night  passed  away  in  un- 
interrupted tranquillity,  and  at  daylight  in  the  morning 
the  Indian  camp  was  found  deserted.  Fires  were  still 
burning  brightly,  and  several  pieces  of  meat  were  left 
upon  their  roasting-sticks,  from  which  it  was  inferred 
that  they  had  retreated  a  short  time  before  daylight." 

Not  long  after  the  Indians  decamped,  forces  from 
other  stations  began  to  arrive  ;  by  noon  there  was  a 
party  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  men  together.  As  the 
Indian  force  was  estimated  at  six  huudred,  and  as  ex- 
perience had  proved  that  this  race  was  as  formidable 
after  defeat  as  after  victory,  prudent  advisers  counseled 
waiting  until  a  larger  force  was  gathered.  Such  a  delay 
was  likely,  however,  to  give  the  Indians  a  chance  to 
escape  altogether  ;  so,  although  Boone,  Todd,  Trigg,  and 
forty-five  other  commissioned  officers  were  in  the  coun- 
cil of  war,  immediate  pursuit  was  undertaken.  It  will 
be  observed  that  even  in  this  early  day  the  proportion 
of  titled  men  to  the  untitled  was  about  one  in  three, 
but  they  deserved  their  brevets.  Late  on  the  morning 
of  the  19th  of  August  the  speedy  march  brought  the 
pioneers  upon  Girty's  force.  It  was  evident  to  Boone 
and  the  other  more  deliberate  soldiers  that  the  Indians 
were  loitering  with  the  expectation  of  pursuit ;  and  to 
any  men  disposed  to  take  counsel  of  their  fears  the  sit- 
uation  of  the   whites  was  at  least  a  very  grave  one. 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  89 

They  were  in  face  of  thrice  their  number,  from  whom 
even  to  receive  an  attack  would  have  been  extremely 
perilous.  To  give  such  an  overwhelming  foe  the  im- 
mense advantage  which  in  forest  contests  belongs  to  the 
defender  is  madness  to  any  but  these  wild  spirits  thirst- 
ing for  vengeance.  The  true  military  policy  would 
have  been  to  fall  back  towards  the  oncoming  force  of 
three  hundred  men  under  Logan  of  Lincoln.  After 
that  the  best  thing  would  have  been  to  fortify  them- 
selves where  they  were,  and  await  the  attack  which  the 
Indians  would  probably  deliver.  Boone  was  the  natural 
leader  of  the  force,  and  though  a  cool-headed  man  was 
too  diffident  to  assert  his  opinions. 

Todd  was  actually  in  command,  if  any  one  could 
have  been  deemed  in  command  of  such  an  undisciplined 
body.  Boone  advised  either  that  they  await  the  coming 
of  Logan,  or  that  if  an  immediate  attack  were  resolved 
upon  their  party  be  divided  and  a  portion  used  for  a 
flank  attack,  so  as  to  deprive  the  savages  of  the  full 
measure  of  protection  which  the  timber  would  afford 
against  an  assault  in  front.  He  knew  the  country  well, 
and  while  a  thoroughly  brave  man,  he  was  disposed  to 
fight  with  foresight  and  an  eye  to  the  shifts  of  the  wary 
race  he  had  been  combating  for  the  previous  ten  years. 
While  the  deliberation  was  going  on,  a  certain  Major 
McGary  swung  his  hat  in  the  air  and  cried,  "  Let  all 
who  are  not  cowards  follow  me."  This  was  a  challenge 
that  made  an  end  of  deliberation.  Among  the  men  of 
that  day  a  banter  to  any  act  of  daring  was  a  thing  not 
to  be  considered,  but  to  be  accepted  without  debate. 

The  whole  party,  horse  and  foot  commingled,  rushed 
into  the  Licking  River  and  struggled  to  the  opposite 
shore.     Before   them  was  a  slope,   worn    bare  by  the 


90  KENTUCKY. 

trampling  of  the  buffalo  on  the  way  to  the  salt  springs 
which  lay  a  little  beyond.  Pursuing  this  path  of  the 
wild  cattle,  they  went  pell-mell  for  the  distance  of  a 
mile  before  they  encountered  the  enemy.  "Wearied  and 
disordered  by  their  long  charge  they  came  at  last  to  a 
point  where  the  ridge  they  were  traversing  was  cut  by 
bush-clad  ravines  on  either  side.  Then  at  once  from 
the  dense,  brushy  wood  there  came  upon  them  a  with- 
ering fire  from  the  Indian  rifles,  which  quickly  brought 
them  to  a  stand.  When  the  advance  of  the  whites  was 
arrested,  the  Indians  skillfully  began  to  extend  their 
lines  so  as  to  enfold  the  thinned  ranks  of  the  whites  as 
in  a  net.  As  soon  as  this  object  became  plain,  a  panic 
as  wild  as  their  late  confidence  seized  on  these  men, 
and  they  rushed  back  towards  the  river  with  the  In- 
dians in  furious  pursuit.  There  was  a  fierce  struggle 
at  the  ford,  where  the  tide  of  flight  and  chase  plunged 
together  into  the  stream.  A  score  or  so  of  the  horse- 
men succeeded  in  crossing  the  stream  before  the  mass 
of  the  fugitives  were  overwhelmed  by  their  pursuers. 
One  of  their  number,  by  the  name  of  Netherland,  who 
had  previously  been  regarded  as  cowardly,  succeeded 
in  rallying  some  of  his  comrades,  so  that  he  brought  a 
well-directed  fire  upon  the  advancing  enemy,  arresting 
for  a  moment  the  pursuit.  But  for  this  action  few  of 
the  footmen  would  have  escaped.  As  it  was,  the  respite 
was  brief.  The  Indians  crossed  the  river  above  and 
below  the  ford,  and  sought  to  surround  the  fugitives. 
The  beaten  Kentuckians  dispersed  through  the  forest, 
finding  their  way  by  circuitous  routes  to  their  homes. 

In  this  action  the  loss  of  the  whites  was  about  sixty- 
seven  killed  and  seven  made  prisoners,  or  near  one  half 
the  men  engaged.     It  amounted  to  about  one  tenth  of 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  91 

the  fighting  men  in  Central  Kentucky,  and  unhappily 
included  a  very  large  number  of  the  natural  leaders  of 
the  settlements.  Colonels  Todd  and  Trigg,  Majors 
Harlan  and  Bulger,  and  Captains  Gordon,  Bulger,  Mc- 
Bride,  and  Lindsey,  were  among  the  slain.  Boone's 
son  Israel  was  mortally  wounded  in  the  fight ;  his  fa- 
ther succeeded  in  bearing  him  from  the  field  and  into 
the  forest,  beyond  the  line  of  the  struggle,  where,  alone, 
he  watched  him  until  he  died. 

This  terrible  defeat  seemed  for  a  moment  to  cow 
the  spirit  of  the  settlers.  Even  Boone,  in  a  letter  to 
the  Governor  of  Virginia,  said  that  unless  five  hundred 
troops  were  sent  to  aid  in  the  defense,  the  country  could 
hardly  be  held.  This  feeling  was,  however,  but  mo- 
mentary. When  Colonel  Clarke  called  for  troops  to 
avenge  this  raid  of  the  Indians  by  a  foray  into  Ohio, 
nearly  a  thousand  men  answered  his  summons,  and  ren- 
dezvoused at  the  mouth  of  the  Licking  River,  where 
Covington  now  stands.  This  force  ravaged  a  number 
of  large  Indian  settlements  on  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Great  Miami,  destroying  a  large  area  of  corn-fields  and 
burning  the  dwellings. 

The  principle  that  appears  to  have  underlaid  the 
white  warfare  in  these  years  was  to  abstain  from  inva- 
sions north  of  the  Ohio,  except  in  retaliation  for  Indian 
raids,  and  then  to  make  them  much  more  destructive 
than  the  blows  they  avenged.  Thus,  in  time,  the  prin- 
ciple of  profit  and  loss  led  the  red  men  to  be  less  will- 
ing to  rouse  a  hornet's  nest  about  their  ears  by  their 
forays.  In  fact,  the  vengeance  taken  for  Girty's  raid 
was  so  severe  that  no  other  large  concerted  invasions 
of  Kentucky  were  undertaken,  though  for  many  years 
small  bands  of  Indians  in  search  of  plunder  often  crossed 


92  KENTUCKY. 

the  Ohio.  The  treaty  of  peace  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States,  the  news  of  which  came  to  this 
district  in  the  spring  of  1783,  also  did  much  to  end  the 
large  and  deliberate  contests  between  the  Indians  and 
whites. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SEPARATION    FROM    VIRGINIA. 

The  years  1783  and  1784  were  years  of  consolida- 
tion and  growth.  The  population  was  still  so  scattered 
that  there  was  no  commerce.  It  is  on  record  that  the 
second  store  of  the  colony  was  opened  in  1783,  and  the 
third  in  the  following  year.  As  the  white  population, 
within  the  bounds  of  the  present  State,  was  now  some- 
where about  thirty  thousand  souls,  the  primitive  condi- 
tion of  supply  is  indicated  by  these  facts.  In  these 
years  the  first  distilleries  were  started.  From  all  we 
can  learn,  it  appears  that  the  first  decade  of  Kentucky 
life  must  have  been  lived  without  any  considerable 
amount  of  alcoholic  stimulus.  The  art  of  brewing, 
which  the  colonists  brought  from  England,  was  lost  in 
Virginia,  where  beer  was  never  a  common  drink,  and 
the  still  was  a  contrivance  too  costly  to  find  a  place  in 
the  life  of  a  people  who  had  returned  to  very  primitive 
ways  of  living,  and  had  nothing  to  spare  for  luxuries. 

The  rapid  gain  in  confidence  which  came  from  the 
natural  growth  of  these  years  and  the  diminution  of  In- 
dian raids  shows  itself  in  the  political  movements  which 
now  began  to  stir  among  the  people.  The  pioneers 
having  secured  the  beginnings  of  the  State,  desired  to 
have  their  future  life  in  their  own  bunds.  On  every 
side  arose  a  demand  for  a  parting  from  Virginia  and 
for  separate  life.    There  was  no  clamor  or  ill-will  in  the 


94  KENTUCKY. 

movement,  and  no  suggestion  of  enmity  toward  the 
beloved  mother  colony,  who  had  never  sought  to  make 
any  profit  from  her  western  dependency.  Virginia  was 
held  in  deserved  affection;  she  had  never  failed  to  give 
help  when  it  was  called  for,  even  in  the  most  trying 
years  of  the  Revolution,  and  had  never  sought  any  rec- 
ompense for  her  gifts. 

This  request  for  independence  was  received  in  tho 
best  possible  spirit  by  Virginia.  In  178G  the  General 
Assembly  of  that  State  passed  the  first  act  for  the  sep- 
aration of  Kentucky,  setting  certain  conditions  on  which 
the  colony  might  go  free.  The  conditions  were  as  fol- 
lows :  The  free  white  male  inhabitants  were  to  choose 
five  representatives  from  each  county.  These  were  to 
determine  whether  the  people  demanded  independence. 
If  so,  they  were  to  fix  a  date  later  than  September  1, 
1787,  for  the  separation,  the  parting  to  take  effect  only 
on  condition  that,  prior  to  June  1,  1787,  Congress 
should  assent  to  the  admission  of  Kentucky  into  the 
Federal  Union. 

The  processes  that  led  to  this  act  of  partition  have 
for  us  a  special  interest,  inasmuch  as  they  throw  some 
light  on  the  conditions  of  society  at  that  time.  The 
difficulties  arising  from  the  remote  position  of  Kentucky 
and  the  slowness  of  communication  with  Virginia  be- 
came evident  during  the  struggle  with  the  Indians.  The 
colony  had  in  effect  little  more  than  the  sympathy  of 
Virginia,  for  the  aid  in  troops,  though  willingly  given, 
always  came  too  late  for  defensive  action.  The  danger 
arising  from  savage  invasion  was  sudden,  and  had  to  be 
dealt  with  quite  independent  of  the  Virginia  govern- 
ment. It  is  likely  that  the  demand  for  independence 
would  have  originated  even  earlier  than  it  did,  but  for 


SEPARATION  FROM    VIRGINIA.  95 

the  doubts  and  fears  that  the  Revolutionary  War  brought 
upon  the  country.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  desire 
for  a  more  effective  government,  which  could  only  be 
secured  by  independence,  it  could  not  take  shape  until 
that  momentous  question  was  settled.  The  first  conven- 
tion intended  to  consider  the  matter  of  independence 
was  held  in  Danville  on  December  27,  1784.  It  was 
called  by  General  Logan  and  some  other  citizens,  who 
met  in  their  private  capacity  in  the  preceding  February. 
They  advised  that  each  militia  company  in  Kentucky 
should  elect  one  delegate  to  the  convention.  Thus,  the 
first  general  convention  rested  naturally  and  fitly  on  a 
military  basis.  The  question  of  parting  from  Virginia 
was  gravely  debated.  Despite  the  diversity  of  opinion, 
there  was  an  overwhelming  majority  in  favor  of  asking 
the  mother  government  for  an  act  of  separation ;  yet, 
with  a  conservative  instinct,  the  convention  did  not  deem 
it  well  to  act  on  its  own  responsibility,  but  limited  itself 
to  advising  the  citizens  to  choose  at  their  annual  elec- 
tion a  convention  of  twenty-five  delegates,  who  should 
determine  the  matter  in  a  final  way.  There  was  every 
sign  of  an  extreme  care  in  the  way  in  which  this  ques- 
tion was  approached. 

The  patience  with  which  the  problem  of  separation 
from  Virginia  was  treated,  both  by  the  mother  State  and 
by  the  people  of  the  Kentucky  settlements,  was  prob- 
ably in  part  to  be  attributed  to  the  unhappy  results  of 
a  similar  experiment  that  was  then  going  on  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Tennessee.  In  1784  North  Carolina,  grow- 
ing impatient  of  the  burden  that  her  western  settle- 
ments imposed  upon  her  treasury,  and  irritated  by  the 
complaints  of  the  people  in  those  districts,  passed  an 
act  conveying  to  the  Federal  government  all  the  lands 


\)b  KENTUCKY. 

that  now  constitute  the  State  of  Tennessee.  The  peo- 
ple of  the  country  that  is  now  Eastern  Tennessee  feel- 
ing themselves  left  without  a  government,  made  haste 
to  organize  themselves  into  an  independent  common- 
wealth, which  they  called,  as  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the 
illustrious  philosopher,  the  State  of  Franklin.  These 
people  applied  for  admission  into  the  Union,  but  the 
Federal  government  being  slow  and  unwilling  to  act, 
and  North  Carolina  having  repealed  the  act  of  cession 
of  her  western  jirovinces  to  the  Union,  the  State  of 
Franklin  came  into  very  troubled  waters  for  some  years. 
There  was  a  conflict  of  authority  in  this  region  which 
led  to  a  premature  decadence  of  the  Tennessee  settle- 
ments, and  in  time  to  violent  misrule  of  the  country. 
Some  efforts  were  made  to  persuade  the  Kentuckiaus 
to  join  themselves  to  the  State  of  Franklin,  a  provision 
having  been  made  for  such  cooperation  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  experiment,  but  they  came  to  nothing.  The 
new  State  gradually  fell  to  pieces,  and  in  1787  its  bril- 
liant and  able  Governor,  John  Sevier,  was  put  on  trial 
for  hiah  treason.  He  was  released  by  a  daring  rescue, 
and  subsequently  pardoned  and  restored  iu  name  to  the 
leadership,  which  he  never  lost  in  the  affections  of  his 
people.  These  very  picturesque  incidents  were  exceed- 
ingly unprofitable  to  the  Tennesseans.  They  served, 
however,  to  deter  a  part  of  the  Kentucky  people  from 
any  rash  experiments  with  their  government.1 

The  second  convention  assembled  in  May,  1785,  and 
after  deliberation  decided  that  a  separation  was  desira- 
ble ;  but,  continuing  their  cautious  course,  they  asked 
the  people  to  review  the  circumstances,  which  the  con- 

1  For  a  further  history  of  the  State  of  Franklin,  see  the  excellent 
account  given  by  Ramsey,  in  his  Annals  of  Tennessee,,  pp.  282  et  seq. 


SEPARATION  FROM   VIRGINIA.  97 

vention  presented  in  the  form  of  an  address,  and  finally 
determine  the  question  of  their  political  future.  By  the 
time  the  third  convention  assembled,  in  the  following 
August,  the  threat  of  a  new  Indian  outbreak  and  the 
evident  inefficiency  of  the  Virginia  government  had  in- 
creased the  desire  to  make  good  the  independence  of 
the  settlements,  so  that  a  rather  vigorous  petition  for 
separation  was  drawn  up  and  forwarded  by  a  committee 
to  the  Virginia  Assembly. 

The  Virginia  Assembly  promptly  agreed  to  the 
proposition,  annexing  thereto  certain  reasonable  condi- 
tions, the  most  important  of  which  was  that  a  fourth 
convention  should  affirm  it  to  be  the  will  of  the  people 
that  they  should  separate,  and  that  the  Federal  Con- 
gress should,  in  advance,  consent  to  the  admission  of 
Kentucky  into  the  Federal  Union. 

Now  began  a  political  conflict  of  a  very  curious 
kind.  The  Federal  Union  was  a  new,  and  as  yet  un- 
proven,  experiment  in  government ;  the  two  years  of 
its  trial  had  not  served  to  show  its  usefulness;  on  the 
contrary,  it  seemed  to  be  utterly  without  power  to  en- 
force its  authority  in  the  West.  The  peace  between 
the  United  States  and  the  British  had  enfeebled  but 
not  ended  the  desultory  war  between  the  savages  and 
British  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Kentuckians  on  the 
other.  The  British  still  held  their  fortified  posts  within 
the  American  territory  :  the  new-made  peace  seemed  at 
most  a  half-regarded  armistice.  The  provisions  of  the 
treaty  which  were  of  most  importance  to  the  Keu- 
tuckians,  namely,  the  surrender  of  the  British  posts  in 
the  Northwest,  were  not  carried  into  effect  for  several 
years.  There  was  a  general  fear  that  a  great  Indian 
invasion  was  imminent ;  small  conflicts  were  of  fre- 
7 


98  KENTUCKY. 

quent  occurrence.  The  fault,  it  must  be  confessed,  was 
in  good  part  with  the  whites.  Wandering  bands  of 
whites,  rough  fellows,  who  had  come  to  look  upon  the 
Indians  as  natural  enemies,  were  constantly  committing 
outrages  on  the  Indians  both  nortb  and  south  of  Ken- 
tucky. It  was  natural  that  the  savages  should  avenge 
the  assaults  by  raids  on  the  white  settlements.  The  set- 
tlers, knowing  little  of  the  circumstances  that  led  to 
these  acts  of  war,  were  convinced  that  nothing  but  the 
extermination  of  all  the  neighboring  Indian  tribes  would 
bring  a  permanent  peace. 

The  United  States  made  treaty  after  treaty  with  the 
Indians,  but  the  Federal  government  was  as  a  military 
power  weaker  than  many  of  the  separate  States,  and 
did  nothing  to  chastise  the  savages  when  they  broke 
their  treaties  of  peace.  Therefore  it  was  natural  that 
the  Kentucky  people,  who  knew  little  about  the  great 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  Federal  government,  and 
who  as  men  accustomed  to  vigorous  action  were  disposed 
to  despise  its  inefficiency,  should  have  chafed  at  the 
limitation  placed  by  Virginia  on  the  consent  to  their 
independence,  which  required  them  to  sue  for  and  gain 
the  consent  of  the  Federal  government  before  they 
could  have  the  freedom  of  action  which  seemed  to  them 
so  vitally  necessary.  At  this  point,  General  Wilkinson, 
of  Fayette  County,  a  man  well  fitted  for  leadership,  but 
a  conspirer  by  nature,  as  was  shown  by  his  subsequent 
behavior  in  the  Spanish  intrigues,  undertook  to  form  a 
party  for  the  immediate  and  unconditional  separation  of 
the  settlements  from  Virginia.  Wilkinson,  for  a  time  a 
soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  Army,  was  a  trader  who 
did  a  good  deal  to  develop  the  early  commerce  of  the 
country.    It  appears  likely  that  the  cultivation  of  to- 


SEPARATION  FROM   VIRGINIA.  99 

bacco,  which  furnished  the  first  agricultural  export  of 
the  State,  the  first  export  of  any  kind  except  a  few  pel- 
tries, was  due  to  him.  We  shall  have  in  the  sequel  to 
trace  in  some  detail  the  career  of  this  singular  man. 

This  scheme  of  secession  found  much  approval  among 
the  military  class  of  the  community.  The  natural  course 
of  events  had  led  to  the  creation  of  a  military  caste  in 
the  settlements.  The  only  strong  organizations  were 
the  military  companies,  and  their  commanders  held  a 
position  of  peculiar  honor,  and  naturally  felt  their  im- 
portance. In  a  separate  state  that  would  be  sure  of  a 
rapid  development,  they  could  expect  to  retain  and 
magnify  their  offices ;  while  under  the  United  States 
government,  which  had  already  forbidden  their  little 
wars  with  the  Indians  beyond  the  Ohio,  they  would  of 
course  sink  into  insignificance.  Thus  out  of  a  milita- 
rism came  the  first  political  danger  of  this  young  State. 

Wilkinson  succeeded  by  despicable  tricks  in  securing 
his  election  as  a  member  of  the  convention  that  it  was 
hoped  would  finally  determine  the  political  position  of 
the  Commonwealth.  By  the  time  the  election  was  over, 
a  new  political  notion  began  to  take  shape  in  his  schem- 
ing brain.  The  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain 
had  left  the  question  of  the  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi in  a  peculiar  position.  The  Spaniards  were  now 
in  possession  of  all  the  country  on  both  sides  of  the 
river  below  the  parallel  of  thirty-or.e  degrees.  Holding 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  that  power  had  undoubted 
right  to  control  the  navigation  of  the  river  below  that 
point  to  the  sea.  The  Kentuckians,  foreseeing  that  the 
right  to  navigate  this  stream  to  its  mouth  would  soon 
be  of  the  utmost  importance  to  their  development,  im- 
mediately began  to  discuss  the  matter  of  this  right.     It 


100  KENTUCKY. 

was  hard  for  them  to  believe  that  the  water  which  flowed 
by  their  door  could  not  freely  bear  their  boats  on  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  From  the  propriety  and  commercial 
necessity  of  their  being  able  to  pass  by  it  to  the  high 
seas,  they  quickly  proceeded  to  the  assumption  that  the 
right  was  theirs,  and  that  only  the  feeble  action  of  the 
Federal  government  deprived  them  of  it.  This  grudge 
against  the  new  central  government  was  intensified  by 
the  fact  that,  soon  after  the  Virginia  Assembly  had  me- 
morialized Congress  to  the  effect  that  the  free  naviga- 
tion of  the  Mississippi  should  be  insisted  on,  John  Jay, 
then  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  also  commis- 
sioner to  treat  with  the  Spanish  envoy,  offered  to  sus- 
pend the  claim  to  this  free  navigation  for  a  period  of 
twenty-five  years,  in  consideration  of  certain  other  con- 
cessions to  American  commerce  that  in  no  way  inter- 
ested the  people  of  the  Ohio  Valley.  At  this  time  Con- 
gress sat  in  New  York  ;  it  was  a  far  cry  to  Kentucky  ; 
news  came  slowly  and  mostly  by  rumor.  Wilkinson's 
party  —  we  must  believe  with  fraudulent  intent  —  spread 
the  report  that  it  was  Congress  that  was  making  this 
arrangement  with  the  Spaniards  ;  when  in  fact  it  was 
only  a  matter  of  discussion  between  Mr.  Jay  and  the 
Spanish  envoy,  and  never  was  presented  to  Congress. 

Since  it  was  evident  from  the  turn  taken  in  the  local 
debates  that  the  people  could  not  easily  be  led  into  a 
resolution  to  try  separation  from  the  Federal  govern- 
ment, Wilkinson's  party  bethought  themselves  of  an- 
other device,  which  was  that  the  people  of  the  settle- 
ments should  see  what  terms  could  be  made  directly  with 
the  Spaniards,  to  insure  the  future  of  the  State  on  this 
important  matter  of  an  outlet  to  the  sea.  It  is  evident 
that  there  was  a  clear  and  momentous  object  in  their 


SEPARATION  FROM    VIRGINIA.  101 

minds ;  for  although  Wilkinson  had  been  elected  at  the 
cost  of  many  diverse  expedients  to  the  exceedingly  im- 
portant convention  in  which  his  presence  was  neces- 
sary for  all  the  plans  of  his  cabal,  he  started  on  a  jour- 
ney to  New  Orleans,  where  he  remained  several  months. 
On  his  return  to  Kentucky,  he  brought  a  curious  private 
trading  treaty,  which  permitted  him  to  import  "  free  of 
duty  all  the  productions  of  Kentucky."  It  allowed  him 
to  furnish  tobacco  to  the  Spanish  government  at  about 
ten  cents  per  pound,  or  five  times  the  price  then  paid 
for  it  in  Kentucky. 

Wilkinson's  return  was  made  in  great  state.  It  is 
said  that  he  came  back  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  four 
horses,  with  a  retinue  of  slaves  ;  but  this  must  apply  to 
the  last  part  of  his  journey,  as  there  was  at  that  time 
no  wagon  road  to  the  south.  His  friends  received  him 
as  an  ambassador  who  had  won  great  concessions  from  a 
foreign  sovereign,  claiming  that  he  had  secured  by  his 
personal  negotiation  that  which  the  Federal  government 
had  offered  to  barter  away.  The  results  of  his  work 
were  used  as  evidence  that  the  Kentucky  community 
could  do  very  well  with  its  interests  if  the  impotent  Fed- 
eral government  no  longer  had  a  hold  upon  them. 
John  Brown,  an  educated  gentleman  who  had  repre- 
sented Kentucky  in  the  Virginia  Assembly,  and  had 
been  appointed  by  that  government  as  one  of  the  dele- 
gates to  Congress,  became  convinced  that  the  opposition 
on  the  part  of  the  Northern  States  to  the  admission  of 
Kentucky  was  very  strong ;  and  it  is  asserted  that  by 
private  letters  he  advised  the  abandonment  of  the  proj- 
ect of  union,  and  that  the  Kentucky  people  set  up  as  an 
independent  State.  He  gave  it  as  the  result  of  his  con- 
ferences with  the  Spanish  minister  that  the  State  of 


102  KENTUCKY. 

Kentucky  would,  if  independent,  be  able  to  make  terms 
with  that  government  which  would  not  be  granted  to 
the  United  States.  It  seems  most  likely  that  Brown 
did  not  really  intend  to  oppose  the  entrance  of  Ken- 
tucky into  the  Union,  but  only  desired  to  coerce  the 
Federal  government  into  the  admission  of  Kentucky  by 
the  threat  of  independent  action. 

All  these  circumstances  tended  to  give  great  strength 
to  the  separatist  party.  To  make  matters  worse,  the 
convention,  called  to  meet  at  Danville,  hung  fire  on  ac- 
count of  the  absence  of  many  of  its  members  on  the 
fruitless  expedition  of  General  Clark  against  the  No- 
bosh  Indians ;  and  when,  after  months  of  waiting,  it  got 
a  quorum  together,  the  question  of  the  time  of  parting 
from  Virginia  and  of  admission  into  the  Union  seemed 
so  difficult  that  no  advance  was  made  toward  the  de- 
sired end.  One  convention  followed  another,  each  put- 
ting forth  the  call  of  its  successor,  or  being  summoned 
to  meet  by  the  Virginia  Assembly ;  but  it  was  not  until 
the  third  act  for  separation  had  been  passed  by  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  seventh  convention  had  met  in  Kentucky, 
that  the  parting  was  effected.  Six  years  elapsed  during 
this  period  of  disordered  relations.  It  would  be  very 
interesting  to  trace  in  detail  the  progress  of  the  nego- 
tiations with  Virginia  and  the  United  States  govern- 
ment ;  but  though  it  forms  one  of  the  most  important 
chapters  in  the  history  of  the  State,  it  cannot  be  told 
without  taking  too  much  of  the  limited  space  of  this 
volume.  The  matter  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as 
follows. 

Virginia  was  from  the  first  willing  that  Kentucky 
should  go  on  the  independent  path  which  she  had  so 
valiantly  opened  while  a  dependency,  but  was  unwilling 


SEPARATION  FROM   VIRGINIA.  103 

tlmt  the  event  should  take  place  until  the  Federal  Con- 
gress was  ready  to  accept  Kentucky  as  a  new  State. 
At  this  time  Congress  was  wrestling  with  the  problem 
of  the  new  constitution.  The  success  in  forming  and 
affirming  this  constitution  seemed  a  very  doubtful  and 
certainly  was  a  very  difficult  problem.  The  admission 
of  a  new  State  containing  people  known  to  be  disaf- 
fected toward  the  Union  appeared  likely  further  to  com- 
plicate the  sufficiently  estranged  relations  of  the  jarring 
units  of  the  government.  It  was  perfectly  natural  that 
the  old  Congress  should  feel  it  important  for  the  admis- 
sion of  Kentucky  to  follow  rather  than  to  precede  the 
ratification  of  the  new  constitution. 

Despite  the  unhappy  results  of  the  Franklin  experi- 
ment, which  were  now  becoming  evident,  these  delays 
greatly  favored  the  development  of  the  disunion  party ; 
so  that  when  the  citizens  of  Virginia  voted  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  new  constitution,  although  Virginia  as  a 
whole  ratified  that  instrument  by  a  vote  of  eighty-eight 
to  seventy- eight,  the  Kentucky  representatives  cast  but 
three  votes  for  it  to  eleven  against  it.  This  gives  a  fair 
measure  of  the  state  of  mind  of  a  large  part,  but  proba- 
bly not  the  majority,  of  the  people  at  that  time.  The 
greater  part  of  the  political  leaders  of  Kentucky  were 
incensed  at  the  refusal  of  the  Federal  government  to 
receive  them.  They  desired  that  the  constitution  should 
not  be  adopted,  so  that  they  might,  by  the  breaking  up 
of  the  confederation,  be  left  free  to  deal  with  their 
problems  in  their  own  way,  without  any  obligation  to 
the  inefficient  Federal  authority  that  controlled  them 
without  proper  representation.  It  was  a  renewal  of  the 
motives  of  the  Revolution  of  1776,  with  the  Federal 
government  in  place  of  the  British  power.     There  can 


104  KENTUCKY. 

be  no  doubt  that  an  extensive  correspondence  with  the 
Spanish  authorities  was  going  on  in  these  years,  and  that 
many  leading  men  »f  the  State  were  concerned  in  it, 
among  them  Mr.  Henry  Innis,  then  attorney-general  for 
the  district  of  Kentucky.  But  it  seems  probable,  from 
facts  that  will  appear  hereafter,  that  the  mass  of  the 
population  was  far  from  being  in  sympathy  with  them. 

In  the  convention  which  met  on  the  3d  of  November, 
1788,  Wilkinson  and  his  followers,  then  known  as  the 
Court  party,  on  account  of  the  official  position  of  its 
principal  followers,  developed  their  plans  and  urged  im- 
mediate separation  from  Virginia  by  an  act  of  revolu- 
tion and  the  setting  up  of  a  separate  government. 
They  kept  the  relations  that  wei'e  to  be  established 
with  Spain  for  subsequent  consideration,  but  left  it  to 
be  inferred  that  these  were  to  be  by  treaty  alone. 
There  is  no  clear  evidence  that  any  of  the  members  of 
the  party  seeking  independence  desired  to  effect  a  union 
with  Spain  on  any  terms  whatever.  Marshall  and  other 
writers  are  of  the  contrary  opinion,  but  it  is  likely 
that  their  opinions  were  colored  by  prejudices.  When 
it  came  to  a  decisive  vote  on  the  scheme  of  Wilkin- 
son's party,  it  was  clear  that  they  had  not  a  majority  in 
the  convention  in  favor  of  a  violent  separation  from 
Virginia,  though  it  is  possible  that  a  majority  favored 
an  independent  government  after  the  State  had  been 
separated  in  a  legal  way.  An  address  was  voted  to 
the  Federal  Congress,  which  renewed  the  prayer  of  the 
people  for  sympathy  and  protection.  It  is  a  curious 
document,  the  more  curious  when  we  remember  that  it 
was  drawn  up  by  Wilkinson  himself.1  His  enemies 
assert   that   he   expected    that   the   Federal    Congress 

i  Marshall,  ii.  331. 


SEPARATION  FROM   VIRGINIA.  105 

would  be  quite  unable  to  grant  the  requests  of  the 
petition,  and  that  their  failure  to  do  so  would  enable 
him  to  further  his  original  plan. 

With  this  action,  the  shadowy  history  of  the  Spanish 
intrigues  comes  practically  to  an  end.  The  convention 
memorialized  the  Virginians  once  again  concerning  sep- 
aration. The  convention  which  considered  this  measure 
found  it  unsatisfactory,  because  Virginia  named  certain 
riffhts  concerning  lands  which  seemed  to  limit  the  sov- 
ereignty  of  Kentucky.  Two  years  went  by  in  further 
debate  with  the  mother  State  concerning  the  details  of 
land  administration,  division  of  debt,  and  other  neces- 
sary preparations  for  admission  into  the  Union.  Dur- 
ing this  time  the  Wilkinson  party  seems  gradually  to 
have  abandoned  their  scheme  for  relations  with  Spain. 
While  Wilkinson  went  on  witb  his  trading  ventures,  the 
others  appear  to  have  lost  all  interest  in  the  matter. 

There  is  an  element  of  mystery  in  these  Spanish  ne- 
gotiations which  will  probably  never  be  cleared  away. 
In  reviewing  the  evidence,  it  seems  likely  that  there 
were  two  distinct  classes  of  men  in  the  conspiracy. 
Wilkinson  and  his  party  probably  at  one  time  desired 
entire  separation,  and  treaty  relations  with  Spain. 
There  is  evidence  enough  to  make  this  position  clear. 
We  cannot  say  the  same  of  Brown  and  many  other 
more  deliberate  men.  On  their  part  it  was  probably  a 
piece  of  political  manoeuvring  that  had  for  its  object, 
not  a  union  with  Spain,  but  the  forcing  of  action  on 
the  part  of  Virginia  and  the  Federal  government. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Brown  saw  a  real  indisposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  more  northern  States  to  admit 
the  partition  of  Virginia,  and  also,  perhaps,  a  certain 
risk,  that  as  Kentucky  grew  to  be  a  more  valuable  pos- 


106  KENTUCKY. 

session,  Virginia  might  be  more  unwilling  to  relinquish 
her  hold  upon  its  territory.  By  this  feint,  —  which, 
under  the  circumstances,  was  justifiable,  —  Brown  and 
his  associates  managed  to  urge  the  act  of  separation  to 
completion,  and  so  ended  a  ten-years'  struggle  for  in- 
dependence. In  no  other  way  can  we  reconcile  the 
sudden  subsidence  of  the  intrigue  with  Spain  so  soon 
as  it  became  clear  that  the  separation  from  Virginia 
could  be  accomplished,  that  the  Federal  government  was 
willing  to  admit  them  without  further  delay,  and  that 
this  government  was  likely  to  have  strength  to  aid  in 
their  development.  The  action  of  their  party  is  not 
reconcilable  with  the  supposition  that  Brown  and  the 
other  men  of  character  intended  to  use  the  separatist 
movement  for  anything  more  than  a  threat. 

Granting,  however,  that  the  object  had  been  separa- 
tion from  Virginia  and  actual  independence,  there  is  no 
real  basis  for  accusing  the  Court  party  of  anything  like 
treasonable  intents.  We  must  remember  that  the  Fed- 
eral Union  hardly  existed  when  the  intrigues  began. 
The  confederation  of  the  colonists  proved  itself  too 
weak  for  its  purposes.  Virginia  had  given  her  quali- 
fied assent  to  a  separation  that  was  universally  desired 
by  the  Kentucky  people.  There  was  as  yet  no  place 
for  a  true  allegiance  to  the  shadowy  Federal  Union  in 
the  history  of  this  people. 

The  spirit  of  local  independence  in  governmental 
affairs  had  just  secured  its  approval  in  the  separation  of 
the  mother  colonies  from  Great  Britain.  These  colo- 
nies had  fought  their  battles  with  the  motive  of  local 
and  not  national  interest.  The  sense  of  national  inter- 
est was  a  thing  yet  to  be  created.  If  these  men  desired 
to  stand  in  name,  as  they  had  stood  in  fact,  amid  the 


SEPARATION  FROM   VIRGINIA.  107 

greatest  trials  that  can  befall  a  community,  alone  and 
self-reliant,  there  was  no  shadow  of  a  moral  objection 
to  their  so  doing.  They  as  yet  owed  absolutely  nothing 
to  the  nascent  Federal  government. 

History  has  shown  that  they  would  have  made  a  great 
mistake  if  they  had  succeeded  in  accomplishing  their 
apparent  aim.  For  that  verdict  of  time  they  are  not 
responsible. 

There  is  a  remarkable  likeness  between  the  incidents 
of  the  separatists'  struggle  of  1784-90,  and  those  of  the 
secession  movement  in  1860-61.  In  both  cases  the 
greater  part  of  the  leaders  were  for  violent  action,  and 
in  both  cases  they  made  the  fatal  error  of  supposing 
that  the  people  were  with  them.  The  obstinate  unwill- 
ingness of  the  masses  to  be  hurried  in  their  political 
action  saved  this  people  from  the  blunder  of  secession 
in  the  critical  moment  of  both  centuries.  Twice  they 
escaped  from  danger  through  the  exercise  of  this  sin- 
gular political  caution  that  has  ever  characterized  their 
action.  The  acumen  of  their  decision  in  their  first  trial 
deserves  more  credit  than  the  second ;  in  the  former, 
the  proposition  was  for  a  separation  from  a  government 
that  hardly  existed,  and  against  which  many  valid  ob- 
jections could  be  urged.  Such  a  separation  would  have 
violated  no  pledges  whatever. 

In  February,  170 1,  Congress  passed  an  act  admitting 
Kentucky,  to  date  from  the  1st  of  June,  1792,  and  on 
April  of  the  following  year  a  convention  assembled  at 
Danville  to  form  a  State  constitution.  In  these  first 
steps  towards  a  union  with  the  Federal  government  there 
is  no  trace  of  hesitation  or  repining.  There  was  no 
party  opposing  the  union ;  at  the  time  it  was  effected, 
Wilkinson's   cabal   was  silent,  if  not  forgotten.     The 


108  KENTUCKY. 

just  inference  is,  that  the  only  strength  that  this  abor- 
tive project  had  among  the  people  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  they  believed  themselves  denied  admission  to  the 
Union. 

During  this  time,  while  Kentucky  was  pleasantly  oc- 
cupied with  the  matter  of  national  politics,  an  occupation 
in  which  they  always  have  found  the  keenest  interest, 
there  was  a  busy  local  life  and  a  steady  inflow  of  immi- 
gration. A  rough  census  showed  that  in  1790  there 
were  61,133  whites,  12,430  slaves,  and  114  free  blacks, 
or  a  total  of  73,677.  At  the  time  of  separation  from 
Virginia,  the  population  had  probably  increased  to  about 
100,000,  for  with  each  year  there  was  an  increase  of 
the  tide  of  immigration  from  Virginia  and  Central  North 
Carolina. 

At  this  time,  when  the  settlements  along  the  Ohio 
had  taken  firm  root,  there  came  into  Kentucky  a  con- 
siderable immigration  from  the  northern  States'  of  the 
Union.  A  large  number  of  settlers  from  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey,  and  New  England  found  homes  here.  Es- 
pecially was  this  the  case  with  immigrants  from  Con- 
necticut. Many  families  from  that  thrifty  State  settled 
in  Mason  and  the  adjoining  counties.  The  effect  of 
their  presence  was  seen  in  the  rapid  development  of 
education  in  this  section.  Mason  County  became  the 
best  schooled  county  in  the  State,  and  from  it  came  a 
remarkably  large  number  of  teachers,  editors,  and  other 
scholarly  men.  The  distinguished  family  of  Johnston, 
from  whom  descended  General  Albert  Sidney  John- 
ston and  many  other  talented  men  of  the  name ;  the 
family  of  Wadsworth,  and  others  are  of  this  blood. 
The  total  immigration  of  New  England  people  proba- 
bly did  not  amount  to  over  fifty  families,  but  it  was  an 
important  contribution  to  the  life  of  the  colony. 


SEPARATION  FROM   VIRGINIA.  109 

Although  there  were  no  longer  large  invasions  of  the 
savages  from  beyond  the  Ohio,  there  was  still  a  constant 
succession  of  small  Indian  raids,  to  the  last  degree  har- 
assing to  the  settlers.  The  greater  part  of  the  State 
was  still  densely  wooded,  and  through  these  coverts  the 
savages  crept,  searching  for  unprotected  farm-houses 
and  wayfarers.  Every  stroke  was  an  act  of  butchery. 
In  the  early  days  the  Indian  warfare  was  singularly 
humane ;  they  never  outraged  their  women  prisoners, 
and  rarely  butchered  their  captives.  They  had  now 
learned  a  more  brutal  warfare  from  the  whites.  There 
can  be  no  question  that  the  Indian  customs  of  war  were 
debased  by  the  example  of  their  enemies. 

For  many  years  the  Ohio  River  had  been  a  favorite 
means  of  transit  from  Virginia,  for  it  was  now  the 
northern  part  of  Kentucky  that  was  receiving  the  most 
settlers,  and  the  route  by  the  Ohio  was  the  best  way  to 
it.  The  voyagers  were  frequently  waylaid  by  piratical 
bands  of  Indians,  who  assailed  them  in  their  canoes. 
Volumes  could  be  written  about  the  combats  and  butch- 
eries that  took  place  on  the  river.  The  effective  way 
of  remedying  this  evil  would  have  been  to  have  placed 
these  boats  under  some  convoy  system,  but  to  the  Ken- 
tuckians  the  proper  means  seemed  to  be  to  crush  the 
savage  in  his  lair. 

In  November,  1791,  the  Federal  government  sent  a 
force  of  regulars  under  St.  Clair  against  the  Indians  on 
the  Miami.  The  Kentucky  militia  refused  to  volun- 
teer under  a  commander  whom  they  deemed  with  good 
reason  an  imbecile,  but  clamored  to  be  allowed  to  wage 
the  war  in  their  own  way.  A  thousand  men  were,  how- 
ever, drafted  into  the  service,  and  ordered  to  march  with 
St.  Clair.     The  most  of  these   deserted ;  so  that  when 


110  KENTUCKY. 

on  the  gray  morning  of  November  4th  the  Indians  as- 
saulted St.  Clair,  he  had  only  about  one  thousand  men 
with  him,  the  greater  part  of  whom  were  regulars.  St. 
Clair  was  tied  to  his  tent  by  a  fit  of  the  gout.  The  In- 
dians entirely  surprised  this  force.  At  first  it  seemed  as 
if,  despite,  the  confusion  arising  from  the  fierce  rush  of 
the  enemy,  they  might  hold  their  ground ;  but  there  was 
no  reasonable  effort  made  to  follow  up  the  temporary 
success  that  came  from  the  valor  of  certain  parts  of  the 
command,  so,  after  some  hours  of  brave  fighting,  a  re- 
treat was  ordered  that  soon  became  a  wild  rout.  Eight 
hundred  and  ninety  enlisted  men  and  sixteen  officers 
were  killed  and  wounded.  General  Richard  Butler,  one 
of  the  most  valuable  officers  of  the  army,  was  among 
the  slain.  Only  two  years  earlier  in  the  history  of  these 
settlements  this  catastrophe,  much  the  most  serious  that 
ever  befell  any  expedition  in  which  the  Kentucky  peo- 
ple had  been  engaged,  would  have  carried  consternation 
into  the  hearts  of  the  Kentuckians,  but  the  State  was 
now  too  populous  to  feel  the  loss  of  men  as  a  disas- 
trous blow.  Despite  St.  Clair's  defeat,  the  Indian  raids 
were  henceforth  reduced  to  small  parties  creeping  under 
the  cover  of  the  forests.  The  defense  of  the  State 
was  henceforth  mainly  intrusted  to  the  Federal  author- 
ities, and  the  heroic  time  of  Kentucky  wa3  ended. 

It  will  be  profitable  to  consider,  in  a  general  way, 
the  progress  of  events  in  Kentucky  from  the  beginning 
of  its  settlement  to  this  time  of  admission  into  the 
Union,  which  practically  ends  the  pioneer  epoch  of  its 
life.  The  period  of  wild  though  noble  development  is 
now  to  give  place  to  a  more  orderly  life,  and  to  a  de- 
pendence on  a  strong  Federal  authority. 

From  the  settlement  of  Ilarrodsburg  in  May,  1774, 


SEPARATION  FROM    VIRGINIA.  Ill 

to  the  admission  of  Kentucky  into  the  Union  in  June, 
1792,  was  seventeen  years.  In  these  crowded  years, 
full  of  an  incessant  battle  with  the  wilderness  and  its 
tenants,  a  struggle  in  which  thousands  of  brave  men 
fell,  a  State  had  been  created.  For  nearly  one  half  the 
time  during  which  this  great  work  was  a  -  doing,  the 
parent  colony  of  Virginia  was  engaged  in  a  war  that 
drained  her  energies  to  utter  exhaustion. 

There  is  no  similar  spectacle  in  history  that  is  so 
curious  as  this  swarming  of  men  into  the  wilderness 
during  a  time  when  their  mother  country  was  engaged 
in  a  life-and-death  struggle.  We  can  only  explain  it 
through  the  intense  land  hunger  that'  marks  the  Saxon 
people.  The  thirst  for  land,  which  we  find  so  strongly 
developed  in  the  Elizabethan  English,  seems  to  have 
been  transmitted  to  Virginia  in  an  intenser  form. 
Knowing  that  free  lands  were  to  be  won  by  giving 
life  for  it,  the  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  people  were 
driven  to  desert  their  comfortable  dwelling-places  in 
the  colonies  for  the  battle  in  the  West.  There  is  no 
other  case  where  this  laud-winning  motive  is  so  clearly 
seen  as  here.  All  our  other  western  immigration  has 
been  fostered  by  the  protection  of  the  government. 
These  people  could  look  to  no  protection  but  what  they 
gave  themselves. 

Twenty  years  of  such  life  developed  a  particular  sort 
of  man,  —  a  kind  that  was  never  known  before  or  since 
in  such  numbers  in  any  one  country.  It  is  the  writ- 
er's fortune  to  have  spent  his  early  years  in  a  society 
that  still  contained  some  few  of  the  men  who  took  their 
shape  from  the  life  that  was  lived  in  the  first  three  de- 
cades of  Kentucky  civilization.  They  had  a  very  pe- 
culiar quality  of  mind.     Its  most  characteristic  feature 


112  KENTUCKY. 

was  a  certain  dauntlessness,  a  habit  of  asserting  the  in- 
dependence of  all  control  except  that  of  the  written 
law.  Their  speech  was  rude  and  often  exaggerated. 
As  a  class,  they  were  much  like  the  men  of  to-day  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  except  that  they  had  not  the  eager 
desire  for  gain  that  takes  away  from  the  charm  of  that 
people.  This  advantage  made  the  froutiersman  of  Ken- 
tucky a  much  more  agreeable  fellow  than  his  money- 
seeking  modern  kinsman  of  the  far  West.  He  was  far 
more  sympathetic,  more  externalized,  than  the  miner  of 
Colorado  to-day.  We  may  infer  some  of  the  peculiar 
qualities  of  this  people  from  certain  features  in  their 
history.  First  we  may  notice  their  curious  respect  for 
the  written  law.  Courts  of  justice  were  at  the  outset 
established  in  Kentucky,  and  the  life  was  at  once  ad- 
justed to  the  usages  of  the  civil  law.  There  was  far 
less  government  by  the  mob  than  in  the  settlements  of 
to-day  in  the  far  West.  The  patience  of  the  people 
with  the  obstacles  which  legislation  put  to  their  will  is 
admirably  shown  in  the  long  quest  of  independence  of 
the  Virginia  government.  Year  after  year,  though  suf- 
fering from  serious  and  galling  evils  connected  with  this 
system  of  control,  they  patiently  petitioned  for  redress, 
keeping  not  only  within  the  limits  of  the  Virginia  law, 
but  retaining  always  a  courteous,  though  firm  attitude 
in  their  demands.  This  attitude  was  even  more  char- 
acteristic of  the  mass  of  the  people  than  of  the  leaders. 
Even  when  the  Court  party,  containing  the  larger  part 
of  the  natural  leaders  of  society,  endeavored  to  lead 
the  State  to  illegal,  though  not  altogether  unjustifiable, 
activities,  the  sense  of  ohedience  to  the  law  led  the  mass 
of  men  to  stick  to  the  true  way  of  government. 

The  fact  is,  there  was  a  great  solidity  to  this  people. 


SEPARATION  FROM   VIRGINIA.  113 

None  but  people  of  character  could  withstand  the  strain 
in  which  they  lived.  They  were  not  burdened  by  the 
weak,  incompetent  men  who  led  other  societies  into 
political  debasement.  The  criminals,  the  weaklings, 
and  the  other  rejecta  of  society  had  no  place  in  this 
embattled  colony.  There  was  a  large  proportion  of 
the  population  composed  of  what  may  be  fairly  called 
educated,  as  distinguished  from  instructed  men.  They 
had  far  less  learning  than  fell  to  the  share  of  the  orig- 
inal colonies  at  the  time  of  colonization,  but  as  a  rule 
they  were  much  more  perfect  material  for  citizens  in  a 
pioneer  State  than  fell  to  the  lot  of  any  of  the  original 
settlements.  They  were  bred  in  a  frontier  life  to  hab- 
its of  independence  and  self-control. 

The  early  records  of  Kentucky  life  are  too  imper- 
fect to  afford  any  clear  insight  into  the  condition  of 
education  or  the  intellectual  motives  of  the  pioneers. 
Recently,  however,  Thomas  Speed,  Esq.,  of  Louisville, 
has  disinterred  a  quantity  of  papers  giving  the  record 
of  a  political  club  that  existed  at  Danville  from  1786 
to  1790.  This  association  was  composed  of  about  thirty 
of  the  brightest  spirits  of  the  time,  who  were  resident 
in  and  about  this  little  town.  On  its  roll  we  find  the 
names  of  many  of  those  who  had  already  or  were  after- 
wards to  lead  the  State  in  the  paths  of  peace  or  war.1 
The  larger  part  of  the  members  belong  to  families  that 

1  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  members  :  Henry  Innes, 
Christopher  Greenup,  John  Brown,  Robert  Craddock,  Thomas  Todd, 
John  Belli,  G.  J.  Johnson,  George  Muter,  Peyton  Short,  Stephen 
Ormsby,  William  McDowell,  Thomas  Allen,  Thomas  Speed,  James 
Speed,  Abe  Buford,  Samuel  McDowell,  Benjamin  Sebastian,  Baker 
Ewing,  P.  Tardeveau,  William  Kennedy,  Willis  Green,  Matthew  Wal- 
ton, William  McClung,  James  Brown,  John  Overton,  Robert  Dougher- 
ty, Joshua  Barbee. 


114  KENTUCKY. 

are  still  among  the  leaders  of  the  State,  showing,  as 
many  other  facts  do,  that  this  colony,  like  the  other 
strongly  individualized  States  of  America,  owe  their 
quality  to  the  influence  of  strong  continuous  house- 
holds. The  notes  of  this  club  give  a  very  fair  idea  of 
the  intellectual  quality  of  its  meetings.1  For  several 
years,  or  until  the  changes  of  the  shifting  population 
removed  its  leaders  far  from  their  original  abodes,  this 
club  industriously  debated  the  questions  of  polity  that 
concerned  the  settlements.  The  record  of  the  debates 
is  given  in  a  simple  and  excellent  English,  that  would 
hardly  find  a  parallel  in  a  debating  club  in  any  western 
settlement  of  this  day. 

Among  the  many  questions  discussed  by  the  club 
were  the  following :  First,  we  have  the  great  question 
as  to  the  propriety  of  separating  from  Virginia.  This 
was  decided  in  the  affirmative,  after  a  long  and  careful 
debate.  Next  in  importance  was  the  question  "  whether 
the  emission  of  a  paper  currency  would  be  an  advan- 
tage to  the  inhabitants  of  this  district."  Some  of  the 
remarks  of  this  debate  are  very  interesting,  showing 
that  these  men  had  a  firm  grip  on  the  problem.  Chris- 
topher Greenup  well  summed  up  the  main  considera- 
tions by  saying,  "  Money  is  the  sign  of  wealth,  and 
paper  the  sign  of  that  sign."  Mr.  Muter  claimed  that 
"  to  make  paper  currency  a  legal  tender  is  fatal  to  it ; 
specie  has  an  intrinsic  value."  The  culture  of  tobacco 
was  debated,  and  it  was  voted  that  it  was  not  desirable 
that  the  district  should  enter  on  this  industry.    Another 


1  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Speed  for  an  opportunity  to  examine  the 
original  records.  They  are  mostly  on  small  slips  of  paper,  showing 
the  value  of  that  article  in  the  early  western  days.  They  give  a  very 
clear  idea  of  all  its  debates. 


SEPARATION  FROM    VIRGINIA.  115 

question  was,  "  Is  the  exclusive  right  of  the  Indian 
tribes  to  the  territory  claimed  by  them  provided  in  the 
laws  of  nature  and  of  nations,  and  can  they  consis- 
tently with  such  laws  be  divested  of  such  rights  with- 
out their  assent  ?  "  After  a  debate  the  first  part  of  this 
proposition  was  affirmed  and  the  second  part  negatived, 
a  remarkable  decision  under  the  circumstances. 

The  most  considerable  task  of  the  club  was  their 
debate  on  the  proposed  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Among  the  records  is  what  appears  to  be  a 
proclamation  of  this  constitution,  in  a  preliminary  form, 
bearing  date  1787 ;  appended  thereto  is  a  letter  of 
Washington,  noting  the  fact  that  it  is  submitted  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  This  constitution  was 
carefully  debated  by  the  club.  The  changes  that  they 
voted  are  very  interesting.  They  proposed  that  the 
speaker  of  the  Senate  should  be  chosen  by  that  body ; 
that  the  members  of  that  body  should  be  ineligible  for 
reelection  for  seven  years,  and  the  President  ineligible 
for  four  years  after  the  close  of  his  term.  After  bills 
had  been  passed  by  the  two  houses,  they  were  to  be 
submitted  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  approved  by  it, 
before  receiving  the  signature  of  the  President.  The 
clause  which  provides  for  the  support  of  the  militia  in 
the  execution  of  the  laws  was  amended  so  as  to  read 
"  to  enforce  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  Union."  Their 
discussion  shows  a  clear  perception  of  the  important 
difference  between  executing  the  laws  in  the  ordinary 
sense,  and  the  enforcement  of  obedience  thereto  in  case 
of  resistance. 

The  draft  of  the  constitution  provided  that  Congress 
should  not  prevent  the  importation  of  slaves  until  1808. 
The  club  voted  to  strike  out  this  limitation.     It  will  be 


116  KENTUCKY. 

seen  by  this  action  that  the  same  motive  of  opposition 
to  the  slave -trade,  which  is  embodied  in  the  first  con- 
stitution of  the  State,  existed  in  this  political  club.  It 
is  worth  while  to  dwell  to  this  extent  upon  the  work  of 
this  interesting  society,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  the  only 
source  of  such  history  that  has  come  down  to  us.1 

Up  to  the  time  of  their  separation  from  Virginia,  the 
life  of  Kentucky's  pioneers  was  in  a  certain  way  ex- 
ceedingly rude ;  the  greater  part  of  the  population  was 
packed  into  the  rustic  castles,  termed  stations,  of  which 
there  were  two  or  three  hundred  within  the  State. 
Each  of  these  places  contained  one  or  more  dwelling- 
houses  and  a  "  corral,"  so  arranged  with  stockades  and 
loopholes  as  to  make  a  stronghold  good  against  Indian 
assaults.  There  were  usually  from  ten  to  fifty  men  at 
each  station,  —  enough  to  make  good  a  defense  until 
succor  could  arrive.  This  rendered  a  certain  crowding 
of  the  population  necessary,  which  endured  until  it  be- 
came safe  to  trust  to  the  separate  farm-house,  so  dear  to 
the  English  heart.  It  is  surprising  that  the  fortified  sta- 
tion did  not  lead  to  some  desire  for  village  life  such  as 
we  find  in  Europe ;  but  as  soon  as  the  Indian  depreda- 
tions became  even  a  little  slackened,  the  people  isolated 
themselves,  as  it  had  been  their  wont  in  Virginia.  A 
lonely  house  in  the  middle  of  a  great  farm  was  their 
ideal,  and  they  attained  it  even  before  it  could  be  had 
with  safety. 

In  these  early  settlements  there  was  an  immense 
amount  of  physical  labor  that  fell  upon  men  and  women 
alike.     In  the  first  twenty  years  there  were  very  few 

1  I  have  availed  myself,  in  preparing  the  foregoing  statement,  of 
the  excellent  account  of  the  Political  Club,  given  by  Mr.  Speed  in 
the  Louisville  Commercial  of  September  2!),  1878. 


SEPARATION  FROM    VIRGINIA.  117 

slaves.  They  did  not  begin  to  be  a  considerable  ele- 
ment in  the  population  until  about  the  time  of  the  sep- 
aration from  Virginia,  when,  the  Revolutionary  War 
having  ended,  there  was  a  richer  class  among  the  im- 
migrants. Even  in  that  year  there  was  only  one  sixth 
of  the  population  held  in  bondage.  The  lot  of  men 
and  women  was  ceaseless  labor,  only  interrupted  by  com- 
bat with  the  savages.  To  create  a  civilization  in  the 
unbroken  forests  that  occupied  all  the  region  which 
was  settled  in  the  first  two  decades,  called  for  some- 
thing like  twice  the  amount  of  labor  that  is  necessary  to 
accomplish  the  making  of  a  home  in  a  prairie  country. 
One  lightening  of  the  ordinary  pioneer's  lot  these  peo- 
ple had.  The  climate  was  admirable,  and  there  were 
no  indigenous  maladies.  They  were  generally  exempt 
from  the  malarial  fevers  that  have  cursed  the  early  days 
of  the  other  Western  States.  Their  life  was  almost  al- 
together in  the  open  air.  The  unglazed  windows  of  the 
houses  and  their  creviced  walls  made  them  almost  as 
free  from  house-poisoning  as  the  open  air. 

The  people  were  for  some  years  almost  without  do- 
mesticated animals  ;  even  horses  were,  at  first,  but  little 
used.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  men  developed  a  re- 
markable capacity  for  swift  and  long  marches.  They 
readily  outmarched  the  Indians,  or  rather  outran  them, 
for  the  regular  pace  when  on  an  Indian  trail  seems  to 
have  been  a  jog  trot.  They  were  accustomed  to  make 
great  distances  on  scant  provision  of  food.  A  little 
parched  corn,  munched  as  they  ran,  would  maintain 
their  strength.  In  a  few  years,  however,  the  settlers 
were  able  to  own  horses,  and  very  soon  the  foot-march- 
ing became  less  common,  and  the  people  entered  on 
the  stage  of  their  development  in  which  they  used  the 


118  KENTUCKY. 

horse  in  all  their  journeys.  Afterwards,  in  hunting  In- 
dians or  in  pursuing  lesser  game,  they  generally  were 
mounted. 

We  have  little  concerning  education  in  these  early 
days.  There  were  no  organized  schools,  and  the  mass 
of  the  people  received  only  a  little  household  teaching. 
Still  it  is  doubtful  if  the  percentage  of  illiterates  among 
the  children  at  this  time  was  as  numerous  as  it  is  at 
present  in  the  mountain  counties  of  the  State.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  the  excess  of  adult  males  in  these 
early  days  was  very  great.  Though  women  and  chil- 
dren were  with  the  first  settlers,  they  were  relatively 
much  less  numerous  than  in  a  normal  society.  This  di- 
minished the  need  of  the  school-master. 

The  religious  condition  of  the  people  was,  from  the 
first,  tolerably  satisfactory.  The  first  ministers  of  the 
gospel  were  the  Baptists,  who,  with  their  usual  valor, 
entered  the  State  with  the  earliest  settlers.  The  Rev. 
John  Hickman  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  begin 
the  work  in  177G.  In  1780  a  vigorous  immigration  of 
people  of  this  faith  took  place.  One  church  —  that 
headed  by  the  Rev.  Lewis  Craig  —  moved  en  masse 
from  Spottsylvania  County,  in  Virginia.  When  the 
Revolution  was  over,  and  the  tide  of  immigration  was 
at  its  flood,  it  brought  a  host  of  Baptist  preachers  with 
it.  The  Methodists  at  first  made  but  little  headway  in 
Kentucky.  In  1787  they  claimed  but  ninety  members 
in  the  State.  The  first  Presbyterian  clergyman  began 
his  work  in  1783.  The  Baptists  were  tho  religious 
pioneers  of  Kentucky,  and  to  this  day  they  hold  the 
first  place  in  its  churches. 

The  Roman  Catholics  were  represented  among  the 
very  first  settlers  in  Kentucky.     Dr.    Hart   and  Wil- 


SEPARATION  FROM    VIRGINIA.  119 

liam  Coomes,  who  settled  at  Harrod's  Station  in  1775, 
—  the  one  a  physician  and  the  wife  of  the  other  a 
school-teacher,  —  were  both  Maryland  Catholics ;  so, 
as  Collins  remarks,  "  the  first  practicing  physician  and 
the  first  teacher  in  Kentucky  were  Roman  Catholics." 
They  were  both  valiant  and  valuable  men.  They  were 
followed  by  many  other  families,  who  founded  the  large 
Catholic  community  that  still  exists  near  Bardstown,  in 
Nelson  County.  Their  first  church  was  founded  in 
1787.  These  people  were  all  of  the  Maryland  stock, 
and  were  a  most  important  contribution  to  the  blood  of 
Kentucky,  though  they  have  maintained  a  peculiar  iso- 
lation, having  had  but  a  small  share  in  the  political  life 
of  the  State. 

The  first  twenty  years  of  the  history  of  Kentucky 
brought  about  a  more  considerable  gain  of  the  English 
population  in  the  interior  of  the  continent  than  had 
been  accomplished  in  all  the  preceding  century.  The 
barrier  of  the  Alleghanies  was  crossed,  and  a  great  bas- 
tion of  Anglo-Saxon  people  built  out  into  the  wilder- 
ness of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  separating  the  Indians 
of  the  north  from  those  of  the  southern  country.  It 
is  easily  seen  that  the  possibility  of  doing '  thus  much 
depended  on  the  temporary  withdrawal  of  the  Indian 
tribes  from  residence  in  Kentucky.  If  they  had  been 
in  force  on  the  ground,  it  is  to  be  questioned  whether 
the  pioneers  could  have  made  their  occupation  good 
until  the  Virginian  or  the  national  government  had 
broken  the  Indian  power.  As  it  was,  they  found  a  gap 
in  the  enemies'  lines,  of  which  they  took  swift  advan- 
tage, pouring  through  it  like  a  flood  and  intrenching 
themselves  in  their  new  position. 

Account  for  it  as  we  may,  this  spontaneous,  unaided 


120  KENTUCKY. 

movement  of  people  into  Kentucky,  and  their  swift  or- 
ganization of  a  State  under  such  apjsalling  difficulties, 
must  always  remain  as  one  of  the  most  surprising 
achievements  of  the  English  race.  We  know  of  no 
other  series  of  events  that  so  well  exhibits  the  singular 
prepotency  of  that  people  as  their  swift  mastering  of 
this  part  of  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

i 

THE   COMMONWEALTH    AND    ITS   PROBLEMS. 

The  next  chapter  in  the  account  of  the  development 
of  Kentucky  very  fairly  begins  with  the  adoption  of  the 
first  Constitution  of  the  Commonwealth. 

In  1792,  after  more  than  ten  years  of  patient,  lawful 
endeavor,  this  people  found  themselves  free  to  express 
their  ideas  of  government  in  their  own  way.  Danville, 
a  town  that  was  from  the  first  the  centre  of  the  State 
life,  was  the  seat  of  the  convention  for  adopting  the 
constitution.  The  people  entered  into  this  work  of 
framing  an  organic  law  with  great  satisfaction,  for  it 
was  a  work  they  had  long  desired  to  be  about.  The 
constitution  which  they  framed  affords  a  capital  index 
of  the  state  of  public  feeling  at  the  time  as  to  many 
important  matters.  It  was  adopted  by  the  convention 
and  promulgated  without  the  test  of  approval  by  popu- 
lar vote,  but  the  evidence  goes  to  show  that  the  people 
ratified  this  instrument  with  a  very  general  approval. 

In  its  general  form  this  constitution  is  clearly  mod- 
eled on  that  of  the  United  States.1  This  has  been 
properly  attributed  to  the  commanding  influence  of  Colo- 
nel George  Nicholas,  who,  as  delegate  from  Virginia, 
had  taken  an  important  part  in  the  formation  of  that 
instrument.  Next,  we  notice  that  this  document  shows 
throughout  an  effort  rather  to  adapt  the  framework  of 
1  See  Appendix  A. 


122  KENTUCKY. 

the  law  to  the  existing  needs  of  the  community  than  to 
seek  any  ideal  perfections.  The  conservative  historian, 
Humphrey  Marshall,  notes  the  absence  of  sufficient 
checks  on  the  popular  will ;  iu  a  word,  that  the  scheme 
was  that  of  a  democracy  rather  than  that  of  a  republic. 
It  was  certainly  open  to  this  objection,  if  indeed  it  be 
an  objection.  The  people  were  democratic  in  their  po- 
litical spirit.  Their  society  was  a  pure  democracy.  It 
was  to  be  expected  that  their  law  should  conform  to 
their  motives  and  conditions. 

The  following  points  in  this  constitution  deserve  es- 
pecial attention  :  — 

First.  The  suffrage  was  given  to  all  male  citizens  of 
proper  age  who  had  not  been  disfranchised  by  convic- 
tion of  crime.  This  is  probably  the  first  experiment  of 
manhood  suffrage  in  any  modern  State.  Second.  The 
whole  body  of  the  judiciary  was  constituted  by  appoint- 
ment without  specified  term  of  office.  This  follows  the 
universal  custom  of  the  time.  Third.  Ministers  of  the 
gospel  were  excluded  from  office  as  legislators.  It  is  a 
curious  survival  of  an  English  prejudice.  It  is  espe- 
cially remarkable  from  the  fact  that  it  is  almost  the 
only  trace  of  the  limitation  of  the  citizens'  rights  that 
is  not  connected  with  the  local  needs  of  the  people. 
Their  Baptist  parsons  were  clearly  no  element  of  dan- 
ger to  the  State.  Fourth.  The  article  concerning  slav- 
ery is  also  important,  as  it  distinctly  shows  a  decided 
prejudice  against  the  commerce  in  slaves.  They  are 
not  to  be  brought  into  the  State  as  merchandise,  and 
none  are  to  be  brought  that  were  imported  into  Amer- 
ica since  1789. 1  It  also  recommended  the  legislature  to 
pass  laws  permitting  the  emancipation  of  slaves  under 
1  See,  also,  the  debates  of  the  Political  Club. 


THE   COMMONWEALTH  AND  ITS  PROBLEMS.     123 

the  limitation  that  they  shall  not  become  a  charge  on 
the  county  in  which  they  reside.  This  article  shows 
that  the  dilliculties  of  the  slavery  problem  were  already 
before  the  minds  of  this  people,  busy  as  they  were  with 
their  immediate  needs. 

The  most  important  omission  of  this  constitution  is 
the  absence  of  any  reference  to  a  public  school  system. 
In  this  it  differs  noticeably  from  most  of  the  constitu- 
tions of  the  Northern  States.  The  neglect  of  this  need 
has  been  from  the  first,  as  it  now  is,  a  weak  feature 
in  the  Kentucky  system  of  society. 

There  is  yet  another  feature  that  deserves  notice. 
The  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  is  made  the  court  of 
first  instance  in  the  determination  of  all  questions  con- 
cerning the  ownership  of  lands  under  the  Virginia  pa- 
tent system.  This  provision  was  introduced  by  Colonel 
Nicholas.  On  proposing  it,  as  it  had  not  been  an  ele- 
ment in  his  canvass,  he  took  the  good  way  of  resigning 
his  seat  in  the  convention  and  asking  for  a  reelection, 
which  was  immediately  given  him  without  contest.  This 
uncontested  return  of  the  proposer  was  taken  as  evi- 
dence that  the  people  desired  the  arrangement.  The 
object  of  this  provision  was  to  prevent  the  action  of 
local  prejudice  in  the  settlement  of  legislation  concern- 
ing land  titles.  This  prejudice  is  always  sure  to  be 
strong  in  the  case  of  such  laud  titles  as  were  growing 
up  under  the  rough  system  of  "  location  "  that  the  laws 
permitted.  Boundaries  being  unfixed,  there  was  already 
a  disposition  to  disregard  the  rights  of  original  patentees 
and  to  use  the  unoccupied  land  as  common  property. 
Any  jury  drawn  from  the  neighborhood  in  which  the 
disputed  land  lay  was  likely  to  contain  men  who  had 
a  sinister  interest  against  the  establishment  of  patent 


124  KENTUCKY. 

claims.  Thus  the  State  at  the  outset  found  itself  in 
danger,  through  defective  titles,  of  losing  a  part  of  the 
value  of  the  soil  which  had  inspired  the  people  to  its 
conquest.  The  remedy  was  unusual,  but  fully  warranted 
by  the  needs  of  the  case,  though  in  experience  it  was 
found  impracticable. 

Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  this  constitution, 
General  Isaac  Shelby  was  elected  governor.  In  him 
the  State  secured  an  admirable  chief  magistrate.  They 
could  not  have  chosen  better.  He  was  a  Marylander, 
who  became,  in  his  early  manhood,  a  citizen  of  what  is 
now  North  Carolina.  He  did  brilliant  service  in  the 
battle  of  Point  Pleasant,  in  October,  1774,  an  action 
that  by  its  conspicuous  success  did  much  to  relieve  Ken- 
tucky from  the  danger  of  overwhelming  pressure  from 
the  Indian  tribes.  Afterwards  in  North  Carolina  he 
played  a  most  gallant  part  in  many  small  expeditions, 
but  especially  in  remedying  the  ruin  that  the  defeat  of 
Gates  at  Camden  brought  upon  the  Continental  cause. 
When  others  were  appalled  by  the  magnitude  of  this 
disaster,  Shelby  seemed  to  have  awakened  to  a  full 
sense  of  his  really  great  military  power.  He  saved  a 
little  army  he  then  commanded,  and  secured  a  large 
number  of  prisoners  in  his  hands  by  a  swift  march  to 
the  west  into  the  recesses  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Moun- 
tains. Then,  when  he  had  disposed  of  his  captives,  he 
turned  upon  the  famous  Ferguson,  and  by  the  well 
conceived  and  admirably  executed  move  on  King's 
Mountain,  destroyed  the  force  of  that  able  commander 
at  a  single  blow.  Although  Shelby  was  not  in  name 
the  chief  in  this  action,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
the  conception  of  the  campaign  and  the  vigor  of  its 
execution  were  his  alone.     His  also  was  the  scheme  of 


THE   COMMONWEALTH  AND  ITS  PROBLEMS.    125 

attack  which  led  to  the  battle  of  Cowpens.  After  va- 
rious other  admirable  feats  of  partisan  warfare,  he  ob- 
tained leave  to  absent  himself  from  the  field  in  order 
to  take  his  seat  in  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Car- 
olina. Thence  he  went  to  Kentucky  in  1783,  where 
he  married,  and  afterwards  remained,  taking  a  part  in 
the  early  struggles  for  emancipation  from  Virginia's  con- 
trol. As  brave  in  action  as  he  was  wise  in  council,  his 
choice  as  the  first  governor  was  an  honor  and  a  blessing 
to  the  young  Commonwealth. 

The  people  of  Kentucky  were  now  again  in  face  of 
the  two  problems  which  had  troubled  them  from  the 
beginning.  The  Indian  outrages  were  still  flagrant,  for 
though  no  large  parties  dared  make  regular  expeditions 
into  the  State,  small  forays  made  through  the  byways 
of  the  forests  were  of  constant  occurrence.  On  April 
1,  1793,  Morgan's  Station,  on  Slate  Creek,  seven  miles 
east  of  Mount  Sterling,  was  captured,  and  nineteen 
women  and  children  taken  into  captivity.  The  boats 
of  immigrants  on  the  Ohio  were  subjected  to  constant 
assaults.  The  Federal  government  refused  to  authorize 
any  independent  action  of  Kentucky  troops,  but  in- 
sisted that  they  should  act  with  the  regulars  and  under 
regular  officers.  This  concession  the  Kentucky  militia 
were  unwilling  to  make  after  their  unhappy  experience 
with  Clark's  last  expedition  and  St.  Clair's  imbecile 
effort.  Finally,  a  draft  of  men  was  sent  to  General 
Wayne,  but  the  season  being  late  his  expedition  was 
abandoned.  So  once  more  the  people  had  reason  to 
be  disappointed  with  the  Federal  system  of  Indian  war- 
fare. 

At  the  same  time,  while  the  people  were  irritated  by 
the  neglect  of  the  Federal  government,  the    question 


126  KENTUCKY. 

of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  came  again  into  the 
public  mind.  On  this  occasion  it  was  a  French  and  not 
a  Spanish  party  that  led  to  the  excitement.  The  Span- 
ish intrigue  was  a  sufficiently  curious  bit  of  politics, 
but  the  French  scheme  was  even  more  singular  in  its 
motives.  The  beginning  of  this  trouble  is  first  distinctly 
seen  in  the  organization  of  several  so-called  Democratic 
clubs  in  Central  Kentucky.  These  clubs  were  fashioned 
on,  and  in  affiliation  with,  the  famous  Philadelphia  club 
which  was  moulded  on  the  Jacobin  clubs  of  Europe. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  Democratic  clubs 
were  designed  to  resist  the  increasing  encroachments  of 
the  Federal  authority  on  the  province  of  the  local  gov- 
ernments. It  is  equally  clear  that  they  drew  their  in- 
spiration from  the  great  Americo-European  movement 
we  misname  the  French  Revolution.  There  was  little 
reason  to  fear  that  these  affiliated  societies  which  were 
springing  up  all  over  the  country  would  be  more  than 
a  wholesome  check  upon  the  Federal  power,  properly 
regarded  at  the  outset  as  involving  an  element  of  dan- 
ger to  the  individual  States.  But  these  societies  called 
Democratic  were  destined  to  receive  their  overthrow 
from  the  source  that  gave  them  birth.  As  is  well 
known,  the  colonies,  when  treating  with  France  for  as- 
sistance in  the  extremity  of  their  need  during  the  war 
with  the  mother  country,  consented  to  make  war  on 
England  whenever  the  French  government  did.  When 
after  twenty  years  we  were  called  on  to  act  in  accord- 
ance with  this  dangerous  stipulation,  the  Federal  govern- 
ment vei'y  properly  refused  to  keep  the  contract  which 
its  predecessor  had  made.  This  refusal  was  clearly  an 
act  of  bad  faith,  but  any  other  action  would  have  been 
even  more  iniquitous.     The   fathers  of  the   American 


THE   COMMONWEALTH  AND   ITS   PROBLEMS.    Ill 

State  had  bargained  to  give  more  than  they  had  a  right 
to  promise. 

That  extremely  active  bit  of  the  French  Revolution 
known  as  Citizen  Genet,  the  French  ambassador  to  the 
United  States,  was  not  disposed  to  regard  the  proc- 
lamation of  neutrality  issued  by  the  Federal  authori- 
ties, but  immediately  on  his  landing  at  Charleston  set 
about  the  process  of  commissioning  cruisers  against  Eng- 
lish ships  even  before  he  presented  himself  at  Wash- 
ington. At  this  distance  of  time  there  is  something 
very  interesting  in  the  performance  of  this  "  infuriated 
foreigner,"  as  Marshall  well  calls  him.  He  seemed  to 
feel  as  his  countrymen  felt  in  that  age,  that  he  owned 
the  earth,  and  that  there  were  no  rights  of  other  coun- 
tries to  be  respected.  In  his  journey  to  the  seat  of 
government  he  was  constantly  engaged  in  arraying  the 
malcontents  of  the  country  against  the  Federal  admin- 
istration, and  in  preparing  to  levy  war  on  Britain  from 
the  soil  of  the  United  States.  The  Jacobin  clubs  were, 
doubtless,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  sympathy  with  his  mad 
course.  The  French  outbreak  in  1793  was  still  in  its 
nascent  state,  and  had  not  yet  set  all  decent  men  against 
it  by  the  brutal  excesses  of  its  later  time. 

The  Democrats,  fearing  with  what  at  the  time  seemed 
good  reason  that  the  Federal  government  was  working 
towards  an  aristocracy,  naturally  felt  a  lively  sympathy 
with  a  people  in  combat  with  the  British,  who  seemed 
to  have  attained  to  a  livelier  sense  of  the  equality  of 
men  than  the  ruling  party  in  the  United  States.  More- 
over, there  was  a  tie  of  blood,  —  blood  shed  on  the  bat- 
tle-fields of  the  Revolution  by  French  and  Americans 
together,  —  that  made  the  appeal  of  France  very  strong 
to  many  hearts.     At  this  time  Louisiana  was  still  under 


128  KENTUCKY. 

the  control  of  Spain,  which  government  was  the  ally 
of  Great  Britain. 

Foiled  by  the  vigor  of  Washington's  government,  in 
his  effort  to  levy  war  from  the  eastern  States,  Genet 
and  his  followers  conceived  the  plan  of  using  the  long- 
ing of  Kentucky  for  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi for  the  furtherance  of  his  plans.  In  October, 
1793,  the  Lexington  Club  resolved,  "  That  the  right  of 
the  people  on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  nav- 
igation was  undeniable,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  peremp- 
torily demanded  of  Spain  by  the  government  of  the 
United  States."  *     Genet  employed  several  Frenchmen 

—  the  principal  of  whom,  a  certain  Charles  Depau,  is 
said  to  have  been  at  this  time  a  resident  in  Kentucky 

—  to  organize  an  expedition  against  Louisiana.  Gen- 
eral George  Rogers  Clarke,  now  in  his  decay,  accepted 
the  commission  of  "major-general  in  the  armies  of 
France  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  revolutionary  le- 
gions on  the  Mississippi." 

The  ultra- Federalists  of  Kentucky  believed  that  Gov- 
ernor Shelby  was  conniving  with  the  French  party,  but 
it  appears  to  the  present  writer,  after  a  careful  reading 
of  the  evidence,  that  his  action  was  only  the  proper 
caution  of  a  man  who  had  very  limited  power  to  act 
under  the  circumstances  of  the  situation.  The  matter 
was  really  one  that  concerned  the  Federal  government 
alone.  The  laws  that  appeared  likely  to  be  violated 
were  Federal  and  not  State  laws ;  it  would  not  have 
been  fit  that  the  Governor  of  Kentucky  should  have 
strained  his  limited  powers  to  meddle  with  the  business. 
As  an  individual  he  doubtless  sympathized  with  the 
project  of  opening  the  Mississippi  to  free  navigation  ; 
i  Marshall,  ii.  p.  92. 


THE   COMMONWEALTH  AND  ITS  PROBLEMS.    129 

yet  he  held  himself  ready  not  only  to  enforce  the  laws 
of  Kentucky,  but  "  to  perform  whatever  may  be  consti- 
tutionally required  of  me  as  Governor  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States."  His  letter  to  Washington  is 
admirable  iu  its  tone,  and  exhibits  more  submission  to 
the  Federal  authority  than  would  now  be  shown  by 
most  governors. 

The  silencing  of  Genet  and  the  prompt  action  of  the 
Federal  government  arrested  this  expedition  against 
a  friendly  power.  The  Genet  incident  was  now  ex- 
hausted, but  it  showed  that  the  mind  of  the  people  was 
still  very  excited  on  this  question  of  the  Mississippi 
navigation.  The  violent  language  of  the  Jacobin  clubs 
of  Kentucky,  and  the  disgrace  that  came  upon  all  the 
sympathizers  with  France  from  the  excesses  into  which 
that  revolution  fell,  had  in  time  a  good  effect  on  the 
politics  of  Kentucky.  It  was  to  these  incidents  that  we 
owe  the  first  considerable  strengthening  of  the  pro- 
nounced Federal  party  in  the  State.  It  is  a  singular 
fact  that  matters  as  remote  as  the  revolution  in  France 
should  have  greatly  affected  the  political  motives  of  this 
young  Commonwealth. 

An  important  incident  in  the  Indian  wars  served  to 
divide  the  public  interest  with  the  French  scheme,  and 
in  time  to  turn  their  attention  away  from  that  fiasco. 
General  Wayne  bad  projected  an  invasion  into  the  In- 
dian country  in  the  autumn  of  1793.  A  thousand  Ken- 
tuckians  had  been  drafted  for  the  expedition,  and  joined 
it  most  unwillingly.  They  were  returned,  because  the 
expedition  was  abandoned.  Their  experience  with 
"  Mad  Anthony,"  though  brief  and  only  in  the  camp 
and  march,  for  there  was  no  fighting,  was  such  as  to 
give  them  confidence  in  his  qualities  as  a  commander. 
9 


130  KENTUCKY. 

Therefore,  in  the  following  spring  there  was  no  diffi- 
culty in  securing  sixteen  hundred  volunteers  for  the  de- 
layed expedition.  The  battle  which  he  won  on  August 
20,  1794,  at  Fallen  Timbers,  on  the  Miami,  was  bril- 
liantly successful. 

The  fight  was  almost  under  the  walls  of  one  of  the 
forts  which  the  British  continued  to  occupy  in  this  re- 
gion, and  the  flushed  troops  could  hardly  be  kept  from 
assaulting  this  stronghold  of  men  whom  they  still  be- 
lieved to  be  their  enemies.  An  attack  on  the  fort  would 
have  been  morally  justified,  for  these  posts,  retained  by 
the  British  in  contravention  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  were 
in  fact  points  of  supply  for  the  Indians.  The  presence 
of  these  foreign  stations  on  their  border  was  in  part  the 
cause  of  the  continued  irritation  against  the  Federal 
government,  which  was  still  felt  by  the  Kentuckians. 
This  victory,  in  which  the  Kentuckians  were  in  com- 
mand of  a  Federal  general,  and  in  which  they  fought 
side  by  side  with  the  regular  companies  of  the  United 
States  army,  did  more  than  anything  else  to  quiet  this 
opposition  to  the  General  government.  The  heretofore 
despised  regulars  opened  the  battle  by  a  brilliant  charge 
with  the  bayonet  on  the  Indian  line, — a  charge  that 
scattered  the  foe.  It  is  quite  natural  that  this  should 
have  entirely  changed  the  feeling  of  men  who  rested  all 
other  judgments  of  their  fellows  on  their  behavior  in 
battle. 

This  battle  practically  made  an  end  of  the  Indian 
troubles  in  Kentucky. 


CHAPTER  X. 

KENTUCKY  AND  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT. 

In  August  of  this  year  came  the  news  of  the  condi- 
tional treaty  with  Great  Britain,  that  finally  ended  the 
hopes  of  those  who  looked  for  a  union  with  France  iu 
the  war  with  the  ancient  enemy.  Although  this  treaty 
made  for  the  time  an  end  of  the  Indian  hostilities,  it 
was  received  with  great  indignation  by  the  partisans  of 
France,  who  now  numbered  far  more  than  a  majority 
of  the  Kentucky  people.  It  is  difficult  to  analyze  the 
motives  that  caused  this  outbreak  of  discontent.  The 
people  were,  however,  intensely  disgusted  with  the  ac- 
tion of  the  authorities  in  Washington,  and  turned  with 
the  bitterest  hatred  against  their  worthy  senator,  Hum- 
phrey Marshall,  who  had  voted  for  the  treaty.  We 
cannot  determine  how  numerous  was  this  party,  but  it 
clearly  included  a  majority  of  the  leaders.  It  should 
be  noticed,  however,  that  this  action  in  no  way  involved 
a  revolt  against  the  government,  but  only  a  verbal  re- 
sistance to  the  party  that  was  in  power. 

It  was  practically  nothing  more  than  an  intense  dis- 
gust at  the  action  of  the  Federal  government,  such  as 
people  may  entertain  against  a  control  which  they  have 
no  idea  of  throwing  off.  The  failure  of  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment to  keep  a  contract  to  make  war  in  a  given 
contingency  was  naturally  exasperating  to  a  people 
with  whom  war  had  long  been  the  principal  business, 
as  well  as  the  only  luxury,  of  life. 


132  KENTUCKY. 

In  the  year  1795  the  Federal  government  effected  a 
treaty  with  Spain,  by  which  the  right  of  navigation  was 
accorded  to  the  American  settlements  on  all  the  waters 
of  the  Mississippi.  Just  before  this  treaty  was  con- 
cluded Spain  made  a  last  effort  to  detach  Kentucky  from 
her  allegiance.  This  effort  was  entirely  unavailing.  It 
was  conducted  with  such  secrecy  that  even  the  imper- 
fect account  of  it  did  not  become  public  until  ten  years 
afterwards.  Politically  it  was  entirely  abortive,  but  it 
serves  to  throw  a  clear  light  on  the  way  in  which  the 
Kentucky  people  now  stood  affected  to  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. It  is  especially  important  for  the  light  it 
throws  on  the  motives  of  the  resolutions  of  1798,  which 
we  shall  soon  have  to  examine.  In  July,  1795,  a  com- 
missioner named  Thomas  Power  was  sent  by  the  Gov- 
ernor of  New  Orleans  to  reopen  communications  with 
the  leaders  of  the  negotiations  of  former  years.  One 
of  these,  Benjamin  Sebastian,  was  now  a  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Kentucky.  From  Sebastian  the  com- 
missioner went  to  Innis,  Nicholas,  and  Murray,  who 
had  been  in  the  old  intrigue,  and  then  to  General  Wil- 
kinson, once  again,  after  his  interlude  of  trading  and 
conspiring,  a  federal  officer  stationed  at  Detroit.  The 
proposal  was  in  effect  that  his  Catholic  majesty,  the 
King  of  Spain,  would  give  to  these  gentlemen  $100,000 
for  their  services  in  inciting  the  people  of  Kentucky 
to  revolt  against  the  United  States.  That  when  the 
revolt  was  proposed  he  would  furnish  abundant  muni- 
tions of  war  for  their  use,  and  give  their  rebellion  the 
military  support  of  the  Spanish  government ;  further- 
more, that  when  independence  had  been  secured,  Spain 
would  give  Kentucky  and  the  other  western  communi- 
ties the  benefit  of  her  alliance. 


KENTUCKY  AND  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.    133 

We  cannot  determine  how  far  these  men  felt  these 
propositions  to  be  attractive,  but  it  is  clear  that  one  and 
all  they  deemed  them  entirely  impracticable,  and  that 
they  not  only  absolutely  refused  the  offer,  but  kept  the 
proposition  from  the  knowledge  of  the  people.  Their 
statements  make  it  clear  that  they  did  not  think  that  at 
this  time  it  would  be  possible  to  form  any  party  in  Ken- 
tucky to  advocate  secession.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  Spanish  governor  chose  his  confederates  with 
discretion,  and  that  his  offer  of  immediate  money, 
amounting  in  value  to  about  the  equivalent  of  half  a 
million  dollars  in  our  day,  and  of  place  and  power  be- 
yond, was  tempting  to  these  men,  who  were  poor  and 
of  an  adventurous  type  of  mind.  Its  unhesitating  re- 
jection shows  clearly  that  it  was  not  a  thing  that  they 
deemed  in  any  way  possible.  The  essentially  loose  na- 
ture of  Sebastian  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  he  had  re- 
ceived a  pension  of  two  thousand  dollars  per  annum 
from  Spain  during  the  years  from  1795  to  1806.  This 
is  perhaps  the  darkest  incident  in  the  history  of  Ken- 
tucky. Sebastian's  relation  to  the  Spanish  government, 
and  the  whole  matter  of  this  last  intrigue,  was  kept  so 
secret,  that  nothing  was  known  of  it  until  it  was  by 
chance  disclosed  in  1806. 

Sebastian  was  then,  and  had  for  many  years  been, 
one  of  the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Kentucky. 
A  committee  of  the  legislature  found  Sebastian  guilty 
of  receiving  a  pension  from  Spain.  There  was  no  pro- 
vision in  the  law  for  his  punishment,  so  he  was  allowed 
to  resign  and  take  himself  away.1     The  conspiracy,  if 

1  Sebastian's  history  is  very  curious.  British  by  birth,  it  is  said 
that  he  began  life  as  an  Episcopalian  clergyman.  Drifting  to  this 
country,  he  became  a  lawyer,  and  tiually  a  jurist  of  excellent  ability. 


134  KENTUCKY. 

it  may  receive  this  name,  was  then  ten  years  gone. 
/The  other  gentlemen  who  had  been  concerned  in  it, 
Messrs.  Innis,  Nicholas,  and  Murray,  appear  to  have 
known  nothing  of  Sebastian's  position  as  a  hireling  of 
the  Spanish  government.  They  can  only  be  blamed 
for  their  failure  to  make  this  act  of  hostility  to  the 
United  States  known  to  the  Federal  authorities.  This 
omission  was  more  serious  from  the  fact  that  one  of 
these  gentlemen,  Judge  Innis,  was  then  the  circuit 
judge  of  the  United  States  for  Kentucky,  and  bound  by 
the  sacred  obligations  of  his  office  to  guard  the  govern- 
ment from  such  machinations  of  a  foreign  power.  To 
this  criticism  of  his  conduct  Judge  Innis  made  a  very 
lame  answer.  He  says,  in  the  evidence  before  the  com- 
mittee of  the  legislature,  "  the  reasons  why  himself  and 
Colonel  Nicholas  did  not  communicate  the  subject  to 
the  executive  of  the  United  States  were  these  :  1st.  It 
was  known  that  neither  of  us  approved  of  Mr.  Adams's 
administration,  and  that  we  believed  that  he  kept  a 
watchful  eye  over  our  actions  ;  that  the  communication 
must  depend  upon  his  opinion  of  our  veracity,  and  that 
it  would  have  the  appearance  of  courting  his  fa^vor.  2d. 
We  both  had  reason  and  did  believe,  that  the  then  ad- 
ministration were  disposed  upon  the  slightest  pretext 
to  send  an  army  into  this  State,  which  we  considered 
would  be  a  grievance  upon  the  people,  and  therefore 
declined  making  any  communication  on  the  subject,  as 
we  apprehended  no  trouble  from  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment." 

Despite  his  great  talents,  he  seems  to  have  been  a  man  always  in 
straits  for  money.  This  led  to  his  fall.  It  should  be  remembered, 
however,  that  the  position  of  a  foreign  pensioner  was  not  regarded 
with  the  same  abhorrence  in  the  last  century  that  it  is  in  this,  and 
that  the  beginning  of  his  relations  with  the  Spanish  government  dates 
from  a  time  when  he  was  a  private  citizen. 


KENTUCKY  AND  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.   135 

It  is  impossible,  within  the  limits  of  this  volume,  to 
give  a  careful  analysis  of  these  Spanish  intrigues,  but 
a  careful  study  of  the  circumstances  will  convince  the 
student  that  in  the  singular  character  of  Wilkinson  he 
may  find  a  clue  to  this  remarkable  chapter  of  American 
history.  It  will  be  necessary  to  trace  this  character  by 
a  sketch  of  the  life  of  this  remarkable  man.  Wilkin- 
son was  born  in*  Eastern  Maryland,  and  was,  for  the 
times,  very  well  educated.  He  became  a  physician ;  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  War  he  entered  the 
army,  and  soon  developed  very  considerable  capacities 
as  a  soldier.  He  was  in  the  siege  of  Boston,  having 
arrived  soon  after  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  His  ac- 
count of  the  incidents  of  that  siege  is  very  interest- 
ing. He  was  with  Arnold  as  aid-de-camp  in  Canada  ; 
was  with  the  army  through  the  campaign  that  ended 
at  Saratoga.  The  incidents  of  his  campaign  in  the 
Revolution  are  told  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Memoirs, 
a  tediously  voluminous  work  of  three  volumes,  contain- 
ing nearly  three  thousand  pages  of  matter,  principally 
his  defenses  before  the  two  courts-martial  to  which  he 
was  subjected.1 

Wilkinson  was  obscurely  involved  in  the  curious  diffi- 
culty between  Generals  Washington  and  Gates.  Gates 
made  him  deputy  adjutant  of  his  army  a  few  days  be- 
fore he  was  removed  from  his  command.  In  time  he 
received  the  rank  of  brevet  brigadier  -  general.  He 
quarreled  with  Gates,  whom  he  accused  of  treachery 
and  falsehood,  and  resigned  his  brevet  rank,  retaining 
his  commission  as  colonel.  Congress,  approving  his 
action  in  his  quarrel  with  Gates,  ^hade  him,  in  1779, 

1  The  Memoirs  of  my  own  Times,  by  General  James  Wilkinson.  la 
three  volumes.     Philadelphia,  181G.     Printed  by  Abraham  Small. 


136  KENTUCKY. 

clothier-general  of  the  army.  In  this  capacity  he  served 
to  the  end  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  In  this  period 
of  trial  Wilkinson  appears  to  have  been  a  patriotic  and 
devoted  officer. 

At  the  end  of  the  Revolution  he  left  the  army,  and 
became,  in  some  obscure  way,  concerned  with  some 
capitalists  in  a  scheme  of  trade  in  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley. From  1793  to  1806  he  is  singularly  silent  as  to 
his  occupations.  His  Memoirs,  infinitely  detailed  for  the 
other  part  of  his  life,  do  not  directly  mention  any  of  his 
acts  from  1779  to  1806.  All  we  know  of  him  is  from 
the  imperfect  record  of  his  performances  in  Kentucky. 
His  great  energy,  fertility  of  resources,  and  singular 
business  tact,  gave  him  a  large  place  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  commerce  between  Kentucky  and  the  Span- 
ish possessions  in  Louisiana.  He,  in  fact,  created  this 
traffic  by  way  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  sea,  and  was 
indeed  the  pioneer  of  commerce  in  this  valley.  His 
facile,  cultivated  ways,  his  lavish  expenditure  of  money, 
and  general  largeness  of  nature,  undoubtedly  did  much 
to  ingratiate  him  with  the  Spanish  authorities. 

It  was  natural  that  the  Spaniards,  with  the  thirst  for 
territory  common  to  the  Spanish  mind,  should  desire  to 
win  larger  control  over  the  Mississippi  Valley  than  they 
then  had.  It  would  be  a  triumph  if  Kentucky  could 
be  detached  from  the  Federal  government  and  brought 
under  her  control.  Wilkinson  doubtless  seemed  to  the 
Spanish  authorities  an  apt  instrument  for  this  work. 
It  is  likely  that  he  in  some  way  engaged  himself  to  abet 
this  project,  and  that  the  extremely  liberal  concession 
of  trade  which  he  brought  to  Kentucky  in  1787  was  a 
compensation  for  this  work.  The  concession  was  es- 
teemed extremely  valuable,  and  there  is  no  other  assign- 


KENTUCKY  AND  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.    137 

able  reason  for  the  grant.  That  there  was  an  element 
of  treason  in  his  projects  is  made  clear  by  his  subsequent? 
course.  This  traffic,  which  continued  for  many  years, 
put  him  in  the  power  of  the  Spanish  government,  by 
the  fact  that  they  withheld  a  large  part  of  the  money 
due  him  for  tobacco  furnished  to  the  Louisiana  agents. 
It  seems  likely  that  whatever  designs  Wilkinson  may 
have  formed,  looking  to  the  separation  of  Kentucky  and 
its  alliance  with  Spain,  they  did  not  long  commend 
themselves  to  his  judgment.  He  apparently  abandoned 
all  decided  efforts  after  his  first  failure  to  secure  action 
in  this  direction.  Still,  as  he  had  money  to  the  amount 
of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  Spanish  hands,  he 
had  to  keep  up  the  semblance  of  devotion  to  their  pur- 
poses. 

In  1801  we  find  Wilkinson  once  again  in  the  Federal 
army,  with  the  rank  of  brigadier-general.  He  gives  no 
explanation  of  his  reestablishment  in  the  army,  and  his 
reappearance  there  in  high  command,  after  his  well 
known  relations  to  the  previous  Spanish  intrigues,  is 
one  of  the  mysterious  incidents  of  American  history. 
What  is  still  more  curious  is  that  he  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  very  department  where  he  could  have  the 
most  to  do  with  the  Spaniards.  He  remained  in  com- 
munication with  the  Spanish  authorities  after  he  entered 
on  this  responsible  position. 

In  the  term  of  President  Madison,  Wilkinson  at  last 
fell  under  suspicion.  Charges  of  official  misconduct  in 
many  different  events  were  brought  against  him,  and  it 
appears  from  the  official  records  that  he  was  ill  used  by 
the  Federal  authorities,  who  appeared  inclined  to  pre- 
judge his  case  and  not  to  give  him  a  fair  trial.  His 
first  trial  was  in   the  National  House  of  Representa- 


138  KENTUCKY. 

tives,  which  seems  to  have  been  unfair  in  its  methods. 
The  next  was  before  a  court-martial,  which  appears  to 
have  given  his  case  a  most  exhaustive  consideration. 
Although  in  this  trial  his  judges  seemed  to  have  been 
prejudiced  against  him  at  the  outset,  the  verdict  was 
distinctly  in  his  favor.  It  was  clearly  proven  that  the 
several  "  mule  loads  "  of  silver  which  he  had  received 
from  the  Spanish  authorities  were  in  payment  of  debts 
due  him  on  account  of  tobacco  furnished  before  he  re- 
joined the  army,  though  the  charge  that  he  had  been 
a  pensioner  of  Spain  during  his  period  of  civil  life  was 
not  disproved. 

The  court-martial  reported  that  in  his  negotiations 
with  the  Spaniards  he  was  actuated  by  a  desire  to  re- 
ceive the  money  justly  due  him,  and  that  any  excess 
of  attention  given  by  him  to  the  Spanish  authority  was 
to  be  explained  by  this  fact.  It  was  clearly  shown  that 
when  Thomas  Power  came  with  the  last  proposition  of 
the  Spaniards,  that  which  afterwards  brought  trouble 
to  Messrs.  Nicholas,  Innis,  and  Murray,  he  went  from 
Kentucky  to  Detroit,  where  Wilkinson  was  then  sta- 
tioned. The  latter  received  him  coldly,  and  without 
heeding  his  propositions  sent  him  back  under  guard  to 
the  frontier,  with  orders  not  to  return  under  any  cir- 
cumstances. The  last  "  mule  load  "  of  silver  had  been 
received,  and  it  was  no  longer  necessary  for  him  to 
keep  any  communications  with  the  Spaniards. 

Although  acquitted  by  a  jury  of  his  peers,  Wilkinson 
was  still  the  subject  of  constant  watchfulness  and  covert 
hostility  on  the  part  of  Secretary  of  War  Armstrong, 
and  apparently  also  on  the  part  of  President  Madison. 
After  the  War  of  1812-1815,  in  which  he  evidently 
did  faithful  though  hampered  service,  he  was  once  more 


KENTUCKY  AND  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.    139 

court-martialed.  Again  the  prosecution  was  singularly 
vindictive,  and  again  did  General  AVilkinson  receive  a 
complete  exoneration  from  very  grave  but  evidently  un- 
supported charges  brought  against  him.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  give  him  too  much  credit  for  the  signal  ability 
with  which  he  conducted  his  defense  in  both  these  trials. 
His  speeches  in  his  own  defense,  though  affected  and 
stilted,  are  capital  specimens  of  pleading.  In  the  closing 
appeal  which  he  made  to  the  court  in  his  last  trial  he 
rises  to  the  height  of  true  eloquence. 

No  one  can  go  patiently  over  the  records  of  these 
trials  without  feeling  a  keen  sympathy  with  this  able 
man.  Whatever  his  error  of  judgment  in  the  Spanish 
negotiations  may  have  been,  though  it  was  probably 
grave,  it  was  atoned  for  by  long  and  devoted  services 
in  the  midst  of  a  constant  hostility  from  his  superiors. 
Soon  after  the  last  trial*  Wilkinson  left  the  army  and 
went  to  Mexico,  where  he  died  in  1825.  There  is  no 
more  enigmatical  or  more  pathetic  figure  in  American 
history. 

In  the  following  two  years  the  State,  relieved  of  its 
anxieties  of  Indian  warfare,  and  with  its  desires  con- 
cerning the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  gratified,  pur- 
sued a  course  of  peaceful  development.  This  period  of 
repose  is  naturally  marked  by  an  increased  interest  in 
educational  matters.  The  institution  known  as  the  Ken- 
tucky Academy  was  established  by  subscriptions  amount- 
ing to  $10,000,  which  came  in  the  main  from  the  East- 
ern States.  The  State  supplemented  this  sum  by  a  gift 
of  six  thousand  acres  of  land,  while  an  equal  amount 
was  given  to  four  otber  academies. 

This  attention  to  local  affairs  must  not  be  taken  as 
evidence  that  the  State  had  in  any  way  relaxed  its  close 


140  KENTUCKY. 

watch  on  the  behavior  of  the  much  suspected  Federal 
government.  It  now  repaid,  with  interest,  the  suspicion 
which  the  Federal  government  had  long  given  to  its 
own  actions.  On  the  passage  by  Congress  of  the  famous 
alien  and  sedition  laws  a  storm  of  protest  broke  out 
against  the  centralizing  tendencies  of  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment. As  is  well  known,  those  laws  were  provoked 
by  the  behavior  of  Genet  and  his  partisans.  They  pro- 
vided the  government  with  power  to  expel  foreigners 
for  certain  causes,  and  also  made  it  a  felony  to  libel  the 
President  of  the  United  States  or  either  house  of  Con- 
gress. 

To  a  people  disposed  to  find  in  each  successive  step 
of  the  Federalist  party  an  intent  of  changing  the  repub- 
lic to  some  form  of  a  monarchy,  these  additions  to  the 
central  power  might  well  seem  dangerous.  That  which 
concerned  the  expulsion  of  foreigners  was  of  no  par- 
ticular account,  but  the  sedition  clause  would  even  now 
be  regarded  as  an  intolerable  piece  of  legislation,  for 
the  reason  that,  however  great  the  evil  that  comes  from 
reckless  political  abuse,  it  would  be  a  thousand  times 
worse  to  grant  the  central  government  power  to  limit 
discussion  of  its  acts. 

So  far  from  regarding  the  outbreak  of  passion  that 
these  laws  provoked  as  an  evidence  of  seditious  discon- 
tent, we  should  rather  look  upon  it  as  evidence  of  a 
proper  sensitiveness  to  the  danger  of  over-government. 
We  have  seen  that  those  who  were  working  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  Spanish  government,  and  who  had  a  "sinister 
interest "  in  discovering  a  treasonable  party  in  Ken- 
tucky, had  failed  to  see  any  chance  for  the  creating  of 
such  a  party.  This  must  be  taken  as  prima  facie  evi- 
dence that  there  was  no  material  for  rebellion  in  Ken- 


KENTUCKY  AND  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.    141 

tucky ;  indeed,  it  goes  far  as  an  answer  to  the  assertion 
that  the  State  was  in  a  seditious  mood.  But  let  us  now 
look  at  the  other  evidence  of  a  secession  spirit,  which 
some  students  think  they  find  in  the  resolutions  of  1798. 
These  resolutions  were  adopted  in  November  of  that 
year.  They  were  offered  by  John  Breckinridge,  one 
of  a  long  line  of  distinguished  men,  but  they  undoubt- 
edly were  approved  by  Jefferson,  if  they  were  not  ac- 
tually from  his  hand!1 

The  greater  part  of  these  resolutions  is  now  so  well  ac- 
cepted that  even  the  most  federally  minded  would  hardly 
be  willing  to  question  them.  The  statement,  however, 
that  "  each  party  has  an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself, 
as  well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and  measure  of  re- 
dress," contains  the  element  of  political  heresy  that  de- 
serves attention.  There  can  be  no  reasonable  question 
that  this  statement  expressed  the  nearly  unanimous 
opinion  of  the  people  of  Kentucky.  There  was  but  one 
dissenting  voice  in  the  two  houses.  This  was  given  by 
William  Murray,  who  had  been  one  of  the  persons  se- 
lected by  the  Spanish  Governor  Carondelet  as  likely  to 
favor  the  secession  of  the  State.  It  appears  possible 
that  his  dissenting  vote  was  given  in  order  to  balance 
his  as  yet  unpublished  relation  to  that  intrigue  ;  it  cer- 
tainly was  a  favorable  occasion  for  him  to  purge  himself 
of  that  iniquity. 

At  this  time  the  legislature  contained  a  very  fair 
representation  of:  all  the  elements  in  the  State,  Feder- 
alists as  well  as  Separatists.  We  cannot  believe  that  a 
reference  to  the  peoj^le  would  have  changed  the  result. 
In  considering  this  vote  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  fact 
that,  less  than  three  years  before,  bold  and  well  in- 
1  See  Appendix  B. 


142  KENTUCKY. 

formed  men  had  deemed  it  chimerical  to  try  to  sep- 
arate the  State  from  the  Federal  Union.  There  had 
been  nothing  in  the  mean  time  to  change  the  temper  of 
the  people.  On  the  contrary,  everything  conspired  to 
bind  them  more  firmly  to  the  Federal  government. 

The  Indian  difficulties  were  suppressed  and  the  navi- 
gation of  the  Mississippi  was  in  a  fairly  satisfactory 
position.  With  these  matters  settled,  there  was  no. 
longer  any  basis  for  rebellion. 

The  victory  of  Wayne  had  certainly  done  much  to 
insure  the  respect  for  the  Federal  government,  as  it 
made  an  end  of  the  charges  of  incompetency,  so  often 
and  with  such  good  reason  brought  against  it. 

We  must  find  the  explanation  of  this  nullification  doc- 
trine, however,  in  the  general  conditions  of  the  public 
mind  as  to  the  nature  of  the  Federal  relations.  At  the 
outset  of  this  inquiry  we  should  notice  that  it  is  difficult 
for  us  to  see  in  this  day  the  way  in  which  people  looked 
on  the  Federal  government  during  the  tenth  decade  of 
the  last  century.  The  several  colonies  had  fought  their 
war  bf  separation  from  Britain  as  separate  political 
units,  each  with  its  own  motive,  and  none  with  any 
distinct  idea  of  what  the  future  government  was  to  be. 
Each  had  fought  for  its  local  rights,  for  its  own  hand. 
These  local  rights  were  all  that  there  were  to  fight  for. 
The  essence  of  their  struggle  was  for  local,  as  distin- 
guished from  externa],  government.  The  long  political 
struggle  of  Kentucky  for  separation  from  Virginia  is 
in  itself  a  capital  instance  of  the  feeling  of  this  time. 
The  better  known  debates  in  the  convention  that  adopted 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  show  that  at 
every  point  the  States  fought  zealously,  even  furiously, 
for  their  separate  rights.     No  candid  person  can  read 


KENTUCKY  AND  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  143 

these  debates  without  rising  from  his  task  with  the  con- 
viction that  the  delegates  of  this  constitutional  conven- 
tion failed  to  determine  the  precise  relation  between 
the  States  and  the  Federal  government.  They  were 
driven  farther  than  the  people  had  gone,  or  were  then 
prepared  to  go,  in  the  direction  of  consolidation  by  the 
logic  of  facts  that  they  only  could  perceive  in  their 
full  meaning.  If  there  had  been  an  effort  to  put  the 
sedition  act  in  the  constitution,  no  one  can  doubt  that 
it  would  have  been  overwhelmingly  defeated  in  the  con- 
vention. The  fate  of  the  Adams  party  in  the  next 
coming  election  shows  plainly  that  even  in  the  States 
that  inclined  most  strongly  to  Federalism,  these  laws 
were  generally  disapproved. 

Since  the  one  distinct  object  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion had  been  to  secure  local  government,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  a  people  who  more  than  any  other  in 
the  United  States  were  by  their  history  devoted  to  this 
end,  should  have  revolted  against  the  alien  and  sedition 
laws,  which  clearly  were  very  dangerous  advances  in  the 
direction  of  that  consolidation  against  which  they  had 
effectively  protested  in  the  convention.  In  the  extrem- 
ity of  their  conceived  need  they  naturally  turned  to  the 
patent  omissions  in  the  contract  by  which  they  were 
bound  to  the  Federal  government.  The  convention  had 
studiously  refrained  from  providing  any  means  whereby 
the  States  should  be  coerced  into  submission  to  the 
Union,  —  differing  in  this  regard  in  a  very  suggestive 
fashion  from  similar  constitutions  in  other  countries  ; * 
and  this  was  no  accidental  omission,  but  one  that  re- 
sulted from  a  careful  discussion  of  the  problem.     That 

1  As,  for  instance,  Switzerland,  which  provides  for  a  process  of 
federal  execution. 


144  KENTUCKY. 

patriotic  men  felt  this  doubt  about  the  conditions  of  the 
constitution  is  well  shown  by  the  subsequent  proceed- 
ings in  other  States,  —  notably  in  Virginia  and  Massa- 
chusetts, —  where  men  whose  character  cannot  be  im- 
pugned without  casting  a  shadow  on  a  whole  people, 
took  the  same  view  of  the  relation  between  the  several 
States  and  the  Federal  government. 

We  must  grant  that  the  seeds  of  nullification  and 
secession  were  in  these  resolutions  of  '98,  but  these 
germs  of  trouble  were  sown  in  the  events  that  led  to 
the  independence  of  the  colonies,  and  were  nourished 
by  the  intentional  omissions  of  the  constitution  itself. 
The  constitution  as  we  know  it,  an  instrument  af- 
firmed partly  by  assent  of  the  greater  part  of  the  States, 
then  by  the  circumstances  of  the  South  Carolina  nul- 
lification in  the  fourth  decade  of  this  century,  and  finally 
by  the  result  of  the  civil  war,  did  not  then  exist.  All 
that  was  before  the  minds  of  men  was  a  new  and  very 
debatable  instrument,  concerning  whose  meaning  there 
was  naturally  a  great  difference  of  opinion.  The  Ken- 
tucky resolutions  were  the  first  proclamation  of  the 
great  discussion  which  was  destined  to  continue  for  two 
generations,  to  be  in  the  end  decided,  as  it  could  only  be 
decided,  by  a  third,  in  the  most  famous  civil  struggle 
of  all  time. 

That  the  resolutions  were  intended  only  as  the  ex- 
pression of  a  sentiment,  and  not  as  the  basis  for  any 
contemplated  action,  is  shown  by  the  previous  and  suc- 
ceeding course  of  politics  within  the  State.  It  would 
be  a  distortion  of  history  to  look  upon  this  action  as  if 
it  had  been  taken  in  1860.  It  was,  in  fact,  only  a  caveat 
directed  against  the  course  of  a  party  disposed  to  take 
an  even  more  unconstitutional  view  of  the  Union  than 
was  held  by  those  who  voted  for  the  resolutions. 


KENTUCKY  AND  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.    145 

After  having  thus  relieved  its  mind  on  this  engross- 
ing question  of  national  politics,  the  Kentucky  assembly 
turned  some  of  its  attention  to  the  difficulties  of  its  own 
organic  law.  During  this  period,  as  too  often  in  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  interest 
in  national  politics  had  overshadowed  the  local  needs. 
The  first  step  was  to  improve  the  local  government  by 
calling  a  convention  to  revise  the  constitution.  This 
instrument,  like  all  first  instruments  of  the  kind,  was 
found  to  be  unserviceable  in  several  respects.  The  peo- 
ple did  not  like  the  system  of  choosing  the  governor 
and  the  members  of  the  upper  house  by  the  electoral 
college  plan,  but  desired  to  have  a  more  immediate 
power  of  election.  The  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  land  cases  was  also  unsatisfactory  to 
the  people  ;  the  danger  of  land  suits  caused  by  the  rude 
methods  of  survey  in  use  was  being  amply  justified. 
As  the  land  was  still  of  relatively  slight  value,  and  the 
means  of  communication  with  the  seat  of  the  court  lim- 
ited, this  method  of  procedure  was  troublesome.  With 
the  action  carried  on  in  a  local  court  the  owner  and 
witnesses,  even  in  case  of  appeal,  would  have  no  occa- 
sion for  resort  to  the  State  capital.  These  matters  were 
changed  by  the  constitutional  convention  of  1799  ;  other 
alterations  were  also  introduced.  The  governor  and 
senators  were  made  elective  by  the  popular  vote,  and 
the  Supreme  Court  hereafter  had  only  appellate  juris- 
diction. The  spirit  of  revision  had  already  led,  in  the 
session  of  1797-98,  to  considerable  alterations  of  the 
criminal  code.  This  legislation  limited  the  penalty  of 
death  to  the  crime  of  deliberate  murder,  —  thereby  show- 
ing an  advance  in  the  theory  of  punishments  remarkable 
in  a  primitive  community. 
10 


146  KENTUCKY. 

The  last  political  act  of  the  century  was  an  effort  to 
amend  or  repeal  the  resolutions  of  '98.  The  Common- 
wealth had  solicited  the  cooperation  of  the  other  States 
of  the  Union ;  but,  except  in  the  case  of  Virginia,  she 
had  received  no  approval,  and  some  of  the  answers 
were  bitter  in  their  tone.  This  bitterness  is  particu- 
larly noticeable  in  the  reply  which  came  from  the  Legis- 
lature of  Massachusetts,  and  was  one  of  the  sources  of 
the  dislike  that  long  existed  towards  that  State  among 
the  Kentucky  people.  The  result  of  this  effort  was 
that  the  reconsideration  was  denied  and  the  resolutions 
reaffirmed.  This  reaffirmation  of  the  long  debated  res- 
olutions shows  clearly  that  they  were  based  on  the  de- 
liberate judgment  of  the  people,  and  were  not  in  any 
way  the  result  of  hasty  or  inconsiderate  action. 

The  Federal  census  of  1800  showed  an  astonishing 
increase  in  the  population  of  Kentucky.  The  total  had 
risen  to  221,955  ;  179,873  were  whites,  40,343  slaves, 
and  737  free  colored.  Thus  the  whites  had  increased 
about  200  per  cent,  and  the  slaves  224  per  cent,  in  the 
preceding  decade.1 

l  See  Collins,  i.  p.  25. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   BEGINNING    OF   THE    CENTURY. 

The  first  year  of  the  new  century  was  an  eventful 
one  in  Kentucky.  The  long  pause  in  warfare  had  given 
a  chance  for  the  minds  of  the  people  to  turn  into  other 
more  peaceful  channels.  The  first  work  of  this  social 
change  was  a  great  increase  in  the  religious  sentiment. 
That  form  of  religion  known  as  Methodism,  which  long 
ago  had  reached  its  height  in  the  Eastern  States,  now 
began  rapidly  to  develop  in  Kentucky.  The  excitement 
was  very  great.  One  camp-meeting,  near  Paris,  was 
said  to  have  been  attended  by  twenty  thousand  people. 
Thousands  were  thrown  into  the  convulsive  state  that 
was  then  believed  to  be  a  mark  of  the  divine  power. 
Although  such  exhibitions  are  not  pleasant  to  those  who 
take  more  sober  views  of  religion,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  these  violent  revivals  of  the  religious  impulse, 
which  for  years  marked  the  history  of  Kentucky,  were 
very  important  elements  in  determining  the  quality  of 
the  people.  At  one  time  or  another,  perhaps  one  half 
the  population  was  brought  under  the  influence  of  an 
enthusiasm  that  for  a  moment  took  them  quite  away 
from  material  things.  There  are  more  refined  ways  of 
awaking  the  altruistic  sentiments  than  were  followed 
in  the  old  Methodist  revivals ;  but  in  these  rough-cast 
folk,  hardened  by  a  life  that  was  necessarily  very  ma- 
terial, and  with  few  influences  that  were  calculated  to 


148  KENTUCKY. 

awaken  the  sympathies  or  the  deeper  thoughts  of  the 
mind,  these  religious  excitements  had  their  value  in 
mental  culture.  Thousands  who  never  otherwise  would 
have  been  taken  from  the  life  of  the  day  obtained  some 
insight  into  the  depths  of  the  problem  of  existence, 
which  could  come  to  them  in  no  other  way. 

To  a  large  part  of  the  people  who  came  under  this 
strong  influence  of  religious  fervor  the  result  was  mo- 
mentary, but  a  larger  part  yet  got  from  it  effects  that 
lasted  all  their  lives.  No  one,  who  remembers  the  peo- 
ple who  owed  their  conversion  to  this  time,  can  doubt 
that  on  the  whole  it  was  a  blessed  influence,  and  did 
more  than  anything  else  to  smooth  away  the  rudeness 
which  the  endless  combats  of  thirty  years  had  put  upon 
the  people. 

In  the  train  of  this  "  revival  "  came,  naturally  enough, 
the  development  of  the  first  distinct  anti-slavery  move- 
ment in  Kentucky.  Even  as  early  as  1799,  Henry 
Clay,  who  bad  recently  settled  in  Kentucky,  was  an 
advocate  of  emancipation,  but  nothing  came  of  his  pro- 
ject until  years  afterwards.  In  1804  a  number  of  Bap- 
tist ministers,  six  of  whom  are  described  as  men  of 
note  and  others  of  no  fame,  started  a  crusade  against 
slavery.1 

"  They  called  themselves,"  says  Collins,  "  the  friends 
of  humanity,  but  we  know  them  in  the  record  of  these 
times  as  emancipators."  There  is  no  mistaking  their 
object ;  none  of  the  Abolitionists  of  later  day  could 
have  been  stronger  of  speech.  Their  church  pronounced 
against  them,  saying  "  that  it  was  improj^er  for  minis- 

1  The  six  men  of  note  were  Carter  Torrant,  David  Barrow,  John 
Sutton,  Donald  Holmes,  Jacob  Gregg,  and  George  Smith.  See  Col- 
lins, i.  419. 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  TUE  CENTURY.         149 

ters,  churches,  or  associations  to  meddle  with  the  eman- 
cipation of  slavery,  or  any  other  political  subject ; "  ad- 
vising them  to  "  have  nothing  to  do  with  it  in  their 
religious  capacity."  These  protestants  against  slavery 
unfortunately  withdrew  to  a  separate  local  association 
known  by  the  curious  name  of  "  the  Baptist  Licking 
Locust  Association  Friends  of  Humanity,"  and  in  this 
narrow  field  soon  ceased  to  be  heard  of  more.  This 
society  marks  the  beginning  of  the  outspoken  opposi- 
tion to  slavery  which  was  destined  to  a  slow  though  a 
sure  growth  in  the  years  to  come.  We  shall  have  oc- 
casion in  the  sequel  to  examine  into  the  history  of  this 
opinion. 

In  1802  the  first  banking  system  of  Kentucky  and 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley  grew  out  of  an  accident  of 
legislation.  The  growing  trade  with  the  Lower  Missis- 
sippi, begun  by  Wilkinson  and  his  associates,  and  now 
of  considerable  importance,  made  some  system  of  in- 
surance necessary.  This  trade  was  conducted  princi- 
pally by  small  merchants,  who  could  not  well  afford 
themselves  to  take  the  risks  of  the  little  craft  which 
they  floated  down  and  "  poled  "  up  the  stream.  A  com- 
pany was  therefore  chartered  to  give  them  the  protection 
they  required  from  total  loss  by  accident.  This  char- 
ter contained  a  provision  which  allowed  the  company  to 
issue  transferable  notes,  and  so  the  State  came  by  a 
banking  system  that  served  a  good  purpose  for  many 
years.  It  was  well  it  came  by  chance,  for  these  peo- 
ple had  much  the  same  objection  against  invested  cap- 
ital that  marks  the  Granger  movement  of  the  present 
day.  The  charter  for  a  bank,  as  such,  would  certainly 
have  been  refused.  This  fear  of  paper  currency,  which 
long  remained  a  permanent  feature  in  Kentucky,  rested 


150  KENTUCKY. 

upon  an  unhappy  experience  with  the  Continental  money, 
through  which  the  country  had  just  passed.  The  lesson 
was  severe  enough  to  be  well  remembered. 

In  this  year  the  trade  by  the  Mississippi,  which  now 
was  the  life  of  the  rapid  commercial  advance  that  was 
going  on  in  the  State,  was  suddenly  interrupted,  the 
treaty  conceding  it  having  expired  without  renewal.  At 
once  the  State  was  again  in  a  flaming  excitement  over 
the  navigation  question.  Before  the  disturbance  could 
go  far,  a  fortunate  stroke  of  diplomacy  ended  the  ques- 
tion forever.  By  the  treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso,  France 
regained  the  territory  of  Louisiana,  which  years  before 
she  had  lost  to  Spain.  It  came  back  to  her  with  its 
bounds  essentially  unchanged.  Bonaparte  was  then  on 
the  eve  of  war  with  England,  in  which  this  fair  colony 
would  most  likely  be  wrested  from  him  through  the 
command  of  the  sea  that  Britain  enjoyed.  He  there- 
fore sold  it  for  the  sum  of  eighty  million  francs  to  the 
United  States.  On  December  20,  1803,  the  Americans 
took  possession.  It  is  worth  our  notice  that  General  Wil- 
kinson received  the  possession  for  the  Federal  govern- 
ment. Thus,  by  the  chance  of  time,  this  intriguer  came 
in  a  legitimate  way  to  enjoy  authority  in  Louisiana. 

Wilkinson  and  his  followers  reappear  in  the  next 
considerable  incident  in  Kentucky  history,  namely,  the 
Burr  conspiracy,  which  in  its  motives  and  its  following 
is  the  natural  successor  of  the  French  and  Spanish 
movements. 

There  is  great  difficulty  in  telling  the  story  of  this 
remarkable  conspiracy.  Burr,  its  leader,  was  a  meas- 
ureless liar.  Several  of  the  men  arrested  with  him 
were  persons  singularly  skilled  in  intrigue,  and  remark- 
ably able  in  holding  their  secrets.     Burr  was  a  man  of 


TEE  BEGINNING   OF   THE   CENTURY.  151 

commanding  intelligence,  of  marvelous  self-possession, 
and  great  foresight.  Unhappily  these  great  abilities 
were  marred  by  an  instinct  for  dangerous  intrigue  and 
an  infinite  untrustworthiness.  He  was  Vice-President 
in  the  first  term  of  Jefferson's  administration,  and  seemed 
then  in  a  fair  way  of  promotion  to  the  highest  honor. 
Failing  to  achieve  this,  he  conceived  a  vast  but  histor- 
ically obscure  project  of  a  south-western  empire,  which 
was  to  be  won  from  the  territories  lying  to  the  south 
and  west  of  the  United  States.  This  project  appears 
to  have  taken  shape  in  his  mind  while  Louisiana  was 
still  in  the  hands  of  Spain.  His  purpose  at  this  time 
probably  was  to  use  the  desire  of  the  people  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  to  gain  a  hold  upon  the  outlet  of  that 
stream  for  the  advancement  of  his  fortunes.  The  ces- 
sion of  Louisiana  cut  a  portion  of  his  ground  away,  but 
did  not  altogether  destroy  his  hopes  of  success.  The 
Spanish  possession  of  Mexico,  then  including  all  of 
Texas  and  the  unknown  region  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, still  afforded  a  wide  field  for  action.  It  appears 
likely,  however,  that  he  had  some  idea  of  separating 
this  region  of  the  Mississippi  from  the  control  of  the 
United  States,  uniting  it  with  the  conquests  that  he 
hoped  to  make  in  the  area  still  claimed  by  Spain.  The 
project  was  a  great  and  shadowy  scheme,  but  more 
captivating  to  the  wild  spirits  of  the  time  than  if  it  had 
been  clearly  defined. 

In  the  summer  of  1805  Burr  journeyed  through  Ken- 
tucky, and  began  the  arrangements  for  the  execution 
of  his  project.  Again,  in  the  following  summer,  he 
passed  through  the  State  on  his  way  from  New  Orleans 
to  the  island  home  of  Blennerhasset,  in  the  Ohio,  where 
he  had  his  headquarters.     Although  his  machinations 


152  KENTUCKY. 

were  quietly  conducted,  enough  was  known  of  their 
purport  to  enable  Mr.  Daviess,  the  attorney  for  the 
United  States,  to  lay  the  outlines  of  the  scheme  before 
the  President.  It  was  necessary  to  construct  many 
boats  for  the  transportation  of  the  several  thousand 
men  who  were  to  be  engaged  in  the  expedition,  and 
this  work  necessarily  attracted  attention. 

In  the  summer  of  180G  a  letter  from  Burr  to  Gen- 
eral Wilkinson,  who  was  then  territorial  governor  of 
Missouri,  became  public.  In  this  Burr  made  the  largest 
possible  claims  of  support  in  his  project  from  the  Fed- 
eral government  as  well  as  from  England.  He  asserted 
that  the  navy  of  the  United  States  and  the  British  squad- 
ron at  Jamaica  were  to  cooperate  with  him,  —  a  state- 
ment that  should  have  aroused  suspicion  of  his  sanity. 
In  this  letter  there  is  no  announcement  of  a  definite 
plan,  no  statement  of  the  end  to  be  attained.  There  is 
questionable  testimony  as  to  his  conversations  at  this 
time  which  goes  to  show  that  he  had  some  idea  of  get- 
ting control  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  afterward  of 
changing  the  whole  government  of  the  United  States. 
If  this  testimony  can  be  believed,  it  affords,  as  the  histo- 
rian Butler  remarks,  fair  ground  for  believing  that  Burr 
was  insane.1  In  November,  1806,  Daviess,  as  attorney 
for  the  United  States,  made  a  presentation  of  the  case 
to  the  Federal  court,  and  asked  for  process  against 
Burr.  Although  this  application  was  denied  by  the 
court  in  Burr's  absence  as  "  unprecedented  and  illegal," 
and  Burr  was  under  no  obligation  to  answer  further, 
he  chose  to  present  himself  before  the  court  and  demand 
a  trial,  claiming  an  absolute  innocence  of  the  charges. 
Owing  to  the  absence  of  witnesses  Daviess  could  not 
1  Butler,  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  312. 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE  CENTURY.  153 

prove  his  allegations  ;  the  grand  jury  failed  to  find  a 
bill  of  indictment,  and  Burr  was  discharged.  The  event 
was  of  no  particular  consequence  iu  the  history  of  this 
conspiracy  save  that  it  affords  complete  proof  of  Burr's 
utter  untrustworthiuess.  Henry  Clay,  who  had  begun 
his  great  career  in  Kentucky,  was  one  of  Burr's  coun- 
sel. Before  Clay  took  charge  of  the  case  he  received 
Burr's  pledge  of  honor  that  he  was  iu  no  way  engaged 
in  such  a  project  as  his  enemies  charged.1  It  is  only 
necessary  to  say  that  the  letter  to  Wilkinson,  which 
afterward  came  to  light,  was  written  in  the  preceding 
July.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  declaration  of 
Burr  to  Clay  had  much  to  do  with  his  immediate  ac- 
quittal. To  the  singular  charm  of  person  and  manner 
with  which  this  man  was  blessed,  and  which  overpow- 
ered the  hearts  of  men  and  women,  we  must  attribute 
the  wild  joy  with  which  his  acquittal  was  received. 
Still  the  charm  was  not  all  Burr's  alone.  The  people 
of  this  State  undoubtedly  longed  for  adventure.  The 
old  avenues  of  action  were  closed.  The  State  was  full 
of  men  who  had  lived  through  the  heroic  age  of  the 
country,  and  the  rising  generation  caught  from  them 
the  love  of  conquest.  These  men  inherited  the  spirit 
of  the  Elizabethan  English.  For  two  centuries  their 
blood  had  been  constantly  stimulated  by  contests,  and 
was  as  yet  untamed  by  the  commercial  life  that  has  in 
later  days,  in  part,  changed  the  motives  of  this  people 
and  inclined  them  to  the  ways  of  peace.  We  cannot 
deny  that  the  mass  of  the  Kentucky  people  were  always 
"  fillibusterish,"  though  they  had  at  the  same  time  a  po- 
litical sense  which  weighed  down  the  natural  hunger 
for  adventure.  There  is  not  a  decade  in  which  we  do 
1  See  Collins,  i.  p.  293 


154  KENTUCKY. 

not  find  some  evidence  of  this  motive,  until  the  civil 
war,  with  its  hard  fighting,  wore  out  the  old  humor,  — 
at  least  for  a  time. 

Burr's  bubble  collapsed ;  no  force  was  necessary  to 
make  an  end  of  it.  His  ten  thousand  men  dwindled 
down  to  less  than  five  hundred.  Wilkinson,  on  whom 
Burr  seems  to  have  relied  for  material  support,  imme- 
diately divulged  his  plans  to  the  government.  Once 
again  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  in  this  act  Wilkinson 
played  a  double  part  or  not.  The  first  court-martial 
that  tried  him  acquitted  him  of  the  charge  of  treasona- 
ble correspondence  with  Burr ;  but  it  is  hardly  to  be 
believed  that  Burr  would  have  unfolded  his  plans  to 
him  without  some  evidence  of  sympathy. 

The  excitement  concerning  Burr's  project  led  to  an 
investigation  of  the  malfeasance  of  Judge  Sebastian, 
before  referred  to.  This  miserable  man  was  found  to 
be  a  hireling  of  the  Spanish  government  all  the  while 
that  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  highest  court  of  the 
Commonwealth.  It  was  in  this  legislative  inquiry  that 
the  history  of  the  last  effort  of  Spain  to  seduce  Ken- 
tucky from  her  allegiance  became  known.  As  before 
noted,  the  offer  of  Spain  was  rejected  by  all  the  parties 
to  whom  it  was  addressed.  Even  Sebastian,  though  in 
the  pay  of  Spain,  agreed  with  the  others  in  this  judg- 
ment. The  inquiry  resulted  in  the  resignation  of  Se- 
bastian. As  there  was  no  violation  of  statutes  in  his 
conduct,  prosecution  was  impossible.  With  this  incident 
the  long  history  of  the  Spanish  intrigues  was  quite  ex- 
hausted. The  materials  for  a  full  account  of  this  curi- 
ous effort  on  the  part  of  Spain  are  not  yet  accessible. 
There  is  probably  no  incident  of  American  history  that 
would  be  so  profitable  a  subject  for  careful  study. 


THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE   CENTURY.  155 

After  this  period  of  political  disturbance  there  came 
a  term  of  years  in  which  the  historian  finds  only  ma- 
terial growth  to  be  recorded.  This  process  of  devel- 
opment was  going  on  with  extreme  rapidity,  as  will  be 
seen  from  the  tables  at  the  end  of  this  volume.  The 
census  of  1810  showed  that  the  population  had  risen 
to  406,511,  of  which  the  whites  were  324,237,  slaves 
80,561,  and  free  blacks  1,713.  By  comparing  this  record 
with  the  census  of  1800  it  will  be  seen  that  the  negro 
population  was  now  gaining  on  the  white,  the  increase 
of  the  former  being  at  the  rate  of  eighty-four  per  cent, 
and  of  the  latter  ninety-nine  per  cent.  There  was  also 
a  noticeable  increase  of  the  free  colored  people,  which 
now  amounted  to  more  than  two  per  cent,  of  the  total 
population  of  African  descent.  The  rate  of  increase  of 
the  free  blacks  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent. 
This  rapid  increase  of  the  free  blacks  is  fairly  to  be 
taken  as  an  indication  of  the  anti-slavery  propaganda 
that  began  with  Henry  Clay.  Although  there  is  little 
in  print  about  it,  there  is  evidence  enough  to  show  that 
the  minds  of  the  people  were  strongly  directed  to  the 
consideration  of  this  grave  question. 

The  long  period  of  political  quiet  that  marked  the 
first  years  of  the  century  was  broken  first  by  the  In- 
dian wars  in  the  northwest,  and  these  campaigns  gave 
a  last  chance  for  many  an  old  Indian  fighter  to  renew 
the  memories  of  his  youth.  The  battle  of  Tippecanoe 
ended  the  struggle.  It  was  a  trifling  action  as  regards 
the  number  engaged  or  the  number  who  fell,  but  for 
the  moment  it  roused  a  great  enthusiasm  among  the 
people.  Kentucky  lost  in  this  battle  two  valuable  citi- 
zens in  Colonels  Daviess  and  Owen. 

At  this  time  the  tide  of  people  that  hitherto  had  set 


156  KENTUCKY. 

like  a  flood  into  Kentucky  began  to  pour  from  its  terri- 
tory to  the  western  and  northern  fields.  There  were 
many  who  found  the  wrestle  with  the  Indians  and  the 
wilderness  sweeter  than  all  the  satisfactions  of:  civilized 
life.  Among  those  who  went  into  the  then  far  West 
was  the  now  aged  Boone.  This  singular,  guileless  man 
had  lost  all  his  "land  locations"  in  Kentucky  through  a 
lack  of  capacity  to  care  for  his  affairs.  So  he  removed 
to  Missouri  when  near  seventy  years  old,  though  yet  a 
vigorous  man,  hoping  to  make  a  new  life  in  that  wil- 
derness. He  there  entered  ten  thousand  acres  of  land, 
but  again  lost  it  through  some  informality  in  the  legal 
conditions.  In  liis  extremity  he  besought  the  help  of 
Kentucky  in  a  simple  yet  affecting  memorial,  stating 
"  that  he  had  no  spot  he  could  call  his  own  whereon  to 
lay  his  bones."  1 

The  State  begged  a  gift  of  ten  thousand  acres  of  land 
for  him,  and  Congress  readily  granted  the  petition  ;  hut 
this,  too,  was  soon  lost  in  some  lawsuits,  so  that  the 
brave  old  man,  who  had  helped  to  conquer  an  empire, 
died  landless  at  last.  In  dismissing  this  old  heroic  spirit 
it  is  proper  to  state  that  the  popular  opinion  that  Boone 
was  the  leading  pioneer  in  Kentucky  is  a  mistake.     His 

1  We  may  here  notice  the  curious  habit  of  burial  on  the  land  of  the 
deceased  to  which  Boone  alludes.  As  is  well  known,  the  English  an- 
cestors  of  this  people  had  the  usual  habit  of  burying  in  churchyards. 
In  the  scattered  population  of  Virginia  churchyard  burial  in  such 
places  became  impossible.  In  its  place  grew  up  the  habit  of  interring 
the  dead  beside  the  homestead.  This  ground,  consecrated  by  the  dust 
of  the  family,  was  the  last  possession  parted  with  ;  indeed,  it  almost 
always  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  kindred  to  the  farthest  gen- 
eration. So  it  came  about  that  for  a  decent  man  to  own  no  acres  that 
might  receive  his  dust  was  something  that  appealed  strongly  to  his 
fellows.  It  is  a  social  instinct  peculiar  to  the  Southern  States  of  this 
Union. 


TI1E  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CENTURY.  157 

adventures  were  singularly  picturesque,  and  at  the  out- 
set his  calm  heroism  was  of  °reat  value  in  giving  cou- 
fidence  to  the  settlers ;  but  he  did  not  have  powers  of 
command.  There  was  a  certain  silent  diffidence  in  his 
temperament,  a  lack  of  self-assertion,  which  hindered  his 
promotion  among  men  of  that  time.  In  later  years  the 
people  seized  upon  him  as  a  type  of  the  pioneer.  It 
chose  well,  but  his  place  in  Kentucky  life  was  never  as 
large  as  it  is  commonly  supposed  to  have  been. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    WAR    OF    1812. 

The  Indian  disturbances  that  led  to  the  Tippecanoe 
campaign  were  stimulated  by  the  controversies  that  pre- 
saged the  War  of  1812.  It  was  only  after  some  years 
of  dispute  that  trouble  came  to  blows,  but  the  British 
and  Canadians  doubtless  aroused  the  spirit  of  depreda- 
tion in  their  willing  allies,  the  savages,  long  before  war 
actually  began.  The  Kentucky  people,  through  then- 
public  meetings  and  their  legislature,  expressed  their 
desire  for  this  struggle  some  years  before  it  came.  The 
irritations  of  the  Revolutionary  War  had  never  been  al- 
layed nor  the  combat  entirely  quelled. 

In  the  levy  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  for  this 
war  with  Great  Britain,  Kentucky's  quota  was  fixed  at 
fifty-five  hundred.  She  was  required  to  send  at  once 
fifteen  hundred  of  these  to  the  aid  of  Hull  at  Detroit. 
This  call  was  answered  by  the  very  best  men  of  Ken- 
tucky. So  eager  were  they  for  the  service  that  the  com- 
mand was  swelled  by  volunteers,  who  would  not  be  re- 
fused, to  over  two  thousand  men.  As  they  crossed  the 
Ohio  on  their  march  they  learned  of  the  shameful  sur- 
render of  Hull's  army  and  the  important  forts  at  De- 
troit. Unhappily  these  raw  Kentucky  troops  were  of  a 
less  hardened  nature  than  those  of  earlier  years.  The 
pioneers  were  mostly  gone.  Those  who  remained  were 
generally  beyoud  the  military  age,  so  the  leading  oifi- 
cers  alone  were  war-tried  men. 


THE    WAR   OF  1812.  159 

Circumstances  pointed  to  General  Harrison  as  the  fit- 
test man  for  the  command  of  the  army.  Hull,  who  was 
still  in  nominal  command,  was  so  universally  contemned 
that  the  militia-men  refused  to  serve  under  him.  In  this 
period  it  required  about  twenty  days  to  make  the  jour- 
ney to  and  from  the  seat  of  government.  Allowing 
time  for  action  at  Washington,  a  month  would  go  by 
before  the  evils  of  Hull's  defeat  would  be  remedied. 
There  was  reason  to  fear  that  the  elated  British  army 
would  push  on  at  once  to  the  Ohio,  a  movement  that 
they  could  easily  have  then  made.  In  this  condition 
of  affairs  the  Governor  of  Kentucky  determined  to  com- 
mission General  Harrison,  then  a  citizen  of  Ohio,  as 
major-general  of  Kentucky,  and  set  him  in  command  of 
an  expedition  to  retake  Detroit,  if  possible,  or  at  least 
to  stay  the  tide  of  invasion  by  a  vigorous  move  in  that 
direction.  This  bold  resolution  is  a  capital  proof  of  the 
military  energy  of  the  Commonwealth.  With  this  force 
from  Kentucky,  together  with  militia  from  Cincinnati, 
Harrison  moved  swiftly  to  the  north,  his  army  swelled 
by  continual  additions  of  volunteers  from  both  sides  of 
the  Ohio  River.  He  was  soon  upon  the  waters  of  the 
great  lakes.  The  Indians  fled  before  him,  their  scouts 
carrying  the  report  that  "  Kentuc  was  coming  as  nu- 
merous as  the  trees."  He  relieved  Fort  Wayne,  on  the 
Maumee,  from  its  siege  without  having  to  fight  a  battle. 
Thus  the  first  object  of  the  movement  was  accomplished 
without  difficulty.  The  southward  march  of  the  British 
was  arrested,  and  time  was  given  for  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment to  act. 

Further  successful  advance  of  Harrison's  army  was 
hindered  by  many  difficulties.  The  autumn  weather  was 
exceedingly  trying ;  the  men  were  compelled  to  march 


160  KENTUCKY. 

knee  deep  in  miles  of  swamps  that  covered  this  coun- 
try in  the  rainy  season.  Taken  at  once  from  comfort- 
able homes  to  this  miserable  life,  without  any  of  the 
hardening  experience  of  camps  of  training,  with  no  fight- 
ing, no  excitement,  except  the  work  of  burning  aban- 
doned Indian  towns,  the  troops  lost  heart.  One  of  the 
Kentucky  regiments  revolted,  though  it  was  quickly 
brought  to  its  duty  by  the  vigorous  remonstrances  of 
its  officers.  With  an  army  worn  by  vain  marching,  un- 
provided with  artillery,  and  poorly  fed,  Harrison's  battle 
was  for  a  long  time  fought  with  the  wilderness  and 
winter  for  his  foes.  In  January,  1813,  the  western- 
most part  of  the  army  found  a  chance  to  strike  a  blow 
at  the  British  and  Indian  force  at  the  river  Raisin.  Al- 
though these  events  were  beyond  the  limits  of  Ken- 
tucky, they  are  a  part  of  Kentucky  history,  for  nearly 
all  the  men  engaged  were  from  this  Commonwealth,  and 
the  consequences  of  the  action  were  far-reaching. 

The  immediate  aim  of  the  movement  that  led  to  the 
battle  of  the  Raisin  was  to  overwhelm  a  body  of  about 
four  hundred  Indians  and  British,  who  were  fortified 
at  Frenchtown,  on  that  river.  This  post  was  within 
a  day's  march  of  the  large  British  garrison  at  Maiden, 
and  two  days'  march  from  the  fort  at  the  rapids  of  the 
Maumee.  The  opportunity  was  good,  and  a  successful 
attack  followed  by  an  immediate  retreat  upon  the  Fed- 
eral base  would  have  been  a  brilliant  military  stroke. 

A  detachment  of  about  one  thousand  Kentucky 
troops,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Lewis,  was  sent 
upon  this  errand.  They  were,  in  the  main,  the  regi- 
ment of  Allen,  which  had  lately  been  guilty  of  insub- 
ordination. The  attack  was  successful ;  the  fortifica- 
tions were  carried  by  storm,  and  the  garrison  pursued 


THE    WAR   OF  1S12.  161 

a  considerable  distance.  Then,  in  place  of  promptly  re- 
tiring, the  captured  fort  was  held  and  a  report  of  the 
success  sent  to  Winchester,  the  commanding  officer  of 
the  brigade.  Winchester,  instead  of  ordering  a  re- 
treat, came  to  the  fort  with  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
regulars  under  Colonel  Mills.  The  circumstances  de- 
manded that  these  fresh  troops  should  have  been  placed 
within  the  stockade,  but  from  some  stupidity  they  were 
quartered  in  the  open  ground  at  some  distance  from 
the  fortifications. 

On  the  morning  of  the  22d  the  army,  which  had 
slept  without  pickets,  was  suddenly  assailed  by  a  force 
of  two  thousand  British  and  Indians.  The  first  charge 
was  directed  against  the  stockade,  but  this,  though 
made  by  regular  British  troops,  was  easily  repelled  by 
the  Kentucky  volunteers  with  great  loss  to  the  assail- 
ants. Next  the  blow  fell  upon  Mills'  exposed  men. 
Overwhelmed  by  numbers,  this  force  was  quickly  put  to 
rout.  Colonels  Allen  and  Lewis,  with  some  of  their 
men,  left  the  entrenchment  they  had  so  well  defended, 
and  endeavored  to  turn  the  fugitives  into  the  enclosure, 
and  so  save  them  from  utter  destruction.  Allen  was 
killed  in  his  effort  to  bring  some  order  out  of  the  con- 
fusion, and  Lewis  was  taken  prisoner.  The  militia- 
men were  now  left  without  their  commanders.  Several 
other  of  the  bravest  under  officers  had  fallen  beyond 
the  stockade  in  their  effort  to  save  a  portion  of  the  reg- 
ular regiment  from  massacre.  Although  this  sally  of 
the  leaders  into  the  rout  they  failed  to  stay,  and  in 
which  they  fell,  was  ill-judged,  it  is  one  of  the  most 
valiant  incidents  in  Kentucky  history. 

The  beleaguered  men  in  the  weak  fort  kept  up  their 
resistance  for  several  hours,  but  their    stockade     was 
11 


162  KENTUCKY. 

under  fire  from  a  battery  of  artillery  which  searched 
every  part  of  their  slender  defenses.  Only  when  their 
ammunition  was  almost  exhausted  did  they  surrender, 
under  promise  of  honorable  conditions.  There  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  General  Proctor,  the  British  com- 
mander, intended  to  keep  his  promises,  but  the  wounded 
men  were  left  on  the  ground  without  sufficient  guard. 
At  night  the  Indians,  wild  with  drink,  broke  in  upon 
them  and  butchered  them  all  in  a  most  atrocious  man- 
ner. This  grave  disaster  carried  sorrow  throughout 
Kentucky ;  the  loss,  including  the  men  massacred,  was 
not  greater  than  had  been  met  in  other  fields,  but  the 
butchery  of  the  wounded  inspired  a  fury  that  was 
marked  in  the  later  events  of  the  war.  To  this  day 
the  river  Raisin  is  remembered  in  every  old  family  in 
Kentucky  as  a  name  of  horror. 

Occurring  in  midwinter  it  was  months  before  there 
was  any  chance  to  recover  from  this  severe  blow  ;  it 
was  the  more  discouraging,  since  it  came  at  about  the 
same  time  as  a  much  more  disgraceful  campaign  that 
had  been  undertaken  against  the  Illinois  Indians.  A 
force  of  two  thousand  Kentuckians,  under  the  command 
of  General  Hopkins,  went  upon  this  expedition.  The 
command  crossed  the  Wabash  River  in  Octoher,  and 
went  in  search  of  a  Kickapoo  Indian  village.  They 
expected  to  arrive  there  after  a  march  of  eighty-five 
miles;  this  march  was  prolonged  until  the  provisions 
were  exhausted  without  finding  any  Indians  whatever. 
The  disgusted  troops,  convinced  that  they  were  on  a  wild 
goose  chase,  refused  the  request  of  their  commanders 
to  pursue  the  march  one  day  longer,  and  sullenly  re- 
turned to  Vincennes.  They  judged  rightly,  as  it  after- 
ward turned  out,  for  the  town  they  were  seeking  was 


THE    WAR    OF  1812.  163 

three  or  four  clays'  march  beyond  the  point  where  they 
turned  back,  and  it  would,  with  their  supply  of  food, 
have  been  impossible  to  reach  it;  but  no  properly  miudcd 
man,  certainly  no  one  who  has  been  a  soldier,  can  ac- 
quit these  men  of  conduct  that  was  disgraceful. 

The  behavior  of  these  raw  levies  in  the  armies  of 
Hopkins  and  of  Harrison,  as  well  as  all  other  experi- 
ences with  Kentucky  troops,  shows  that  they  require 
a  long  discipline  before  they  are  fit  for  the  routine  en- 
durance of  the  soldier.  Even  when  fresh  from  their 
homes  they  can  be  trusted  to  take  punishment  and  to 
strike  hard  blows ;  but  they  have  too  much  individ- 
uality to  stand  the  continued  trials  of  the  march.  They 
have  beeu  too  much  accustomed  to  be  a  law  unto  them- 
selves to  make  them  patient  in  the  dull  round  of  toil 
which  makes  up  the  life  of  the  soldier  until  they  have 
been  well  and  carefully  disciplined.  Most  officers  will 
agree,  however,  that  they  would  rather  have  material 
that  was  insubordinate  at  the  outset,  than  men  who 
went  at  once  with  ox-like  patience  to  the  yoke  that 
every  private  soldier  has  to  bear.  This  otherwise 
minded  and  impatient  population  gave,  in  the  next  gen- 
eration, the  material  that  made  such  troops  as  the  1st 
Kentucky  Brigade  in  Johnston's  Confederate  army,  and 
a  host  of  other  commands  that  showed  the  perfection 
of  soldierly  qualities. 

Harrison's  inaction  left  his  army  in  a  shape  to  be  be- 
sieged by  the  British.  If  they  had  not  been  so  slow 
they  might,  indeed,  have  driven  him  back  to  the  Ohio. 
As  it  was,  his  adversary,  General  Proctor,  if  anything 
a  worse  soldier  than  old  Tippecanoe,  gave  him  ample 
time  to  make  for  his  defense  a  moderately  strong  fortifi- 
cation at  the  falls  of  the  Maumee,  known  in  history  as 


164  KENTUCKY. 

Fort  Meigs.  After  he  had  received  some  reinforcements 
and  supplies  from  Kentucky,  on  about  the  first  of  May, 
he  found  himself  strongly  besieged  by  the  British  forces. 
He  had  little  artillery,  and  this  was  so  scantily  provided 
with  ammunition,  that  the  greater  part  of  his  shot  were 
with  ammunition,  that  the  greater  part  of  his  shot  was 
that  which  came  to  him  from  the  enemy's  bombard- 
ment. 

The  troops  from  Kentucky  and  Southern  Ohio,  which 
had  been  gathered  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Meigs,  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  an  understanding  with  its  commander 
as  to  the  steps  to  be  taken  in  the  effort  to  raise  the 
siege.  This  plan  was  too  complicated  for  the  class  of 
troops  that  were  to  execute  it,  for  it  involved  several 
delicate  manoeuvres  that  demanded  a  high  degree  of 
discipline.  The  immediate  assault  succeeded;  the  en- 
emy's batteries,  taken  in  rear,  were  carried,  but  the 
militia-men,  their  blood  up,  wildly  pursued  the  fugitives 
and  were,  by  a  judicious  movement  of  the  British  com- 
mander, cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  army  and  cap- 
tured. They  would  probably  all  have  been  butchered 
by  the  Indians  but  for  the  timely  arrival  of  the  brave 
and  honorable  chief,  Tecumseh,  who  stayed  the  work 
of  slaughter.  Although  the  fight  of  the  5th  of  May 
was  a  decided  defeat  for  the  Americans,  General  Proc- 
tor felt  that  his  position  was  critical ;  and  believing 
that  the  Kentucky  reinforcements  were  much  larger 
than  they  really  were,  abandoned  the  movement,  and 
took  up  his  position  again  in  his  strong  fortifications  at 
Maiden. 

Considering  the  fact  that  Proctor's  force  was  prob- 
ably much  larger  than  the  combined  American  troops, 
the  operations  that  ended  the  siege  succeeded  better 
than  they  deserved  to  do,  for  which  our  forces  had  to 


THE    WAR   OF  1812.  165 

thank  the  inefficiency  of  the  British  commander,  since 
their  own  movements  were  so  badly  managed  as  to  in- 
vite defeat. 

The  only  brilliant  episode  in  this  extremely  dull  and 
ineffective  piece  of  campaigning  was  the  defense  of  a 
stockade  called  Fort  Stephenson.  This  post  was  held 
by  Colonel  George  Croghan  with  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men;  on  his  way  from  the  siege  of  Fort  Meigs' Gen- 
eral Proctor  endeavored  to  carry  this  post  by  assault. 
Croghan  '  had  been  ordered  to  withdraw  from  it,  but 
before  he  could  effect  the  movement  the  place  was  as- 
sailed by  the  half  of  Proctor's  army.  When  summoned 
to  surrender,  Croghan  defied  his  enemy  to  an  assault ; 
they,  trusting  to  their  tenfold  superiority,  tried  an  esca- 
lade, but  were  easily  beaten  off  with  heavy  loss. 

In  Perry's  ship  fight  on  Lake  Erie  a  force  of  Ken- 
tuckians  served  as  musketeers,  where  they  did  good 
service.  This  victory  required  Proctor  to  abandon  De- 
troit and  withdraw  his  army  to  the  north  side  of  the 
lakes.  Here  he  was  followed  by  Harrison.  In  a  short 
time,  owing  to  his  blundering  ways  of  warfare,  he  was 
forced  into  an  action  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames.  He 
was  considerably  outnumbered  by  the  American  army, 
but  he  had  the  choice  of  position,  a  fairly  strong  one, 
and  he  had  one  regiment  of  British  regulars  in  his  com- 
mand. His  total  force  was  about  two  thousand,  while 
the  Americans  had  over  three  thousand  men.  This 
action  is  properly  a  part  of  the  history  of  Kentucky,  as, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  regulars  and  some  volun- 
teers from  near  Cincinnati,  also  largely  of  Kentucky 
blood,  the  whole  force  was  from  that  State. 

The  greatest  advantage  of  Proctor's  army  was  that 
1  Croghan  (pronounced  Crawn). 


166  KENTUCKY. 

he  had  with  him  the  great  Indian  chief,  Tecumseh,  and 
the  flower  of  his  army,  composed  of  savages  who  were 
fairly  disciplined  and  inured  to  war.  This  noble  red 
man  had  succeeded  in  giving  the  warriors  of  his  race  a 
steadiness  and  a  soldierly  quality  which  they  never  pos- 
sessed under  any  other  commander,  at  least  in  the  old 
days.  He  had  a  great  and  elevating  influeuce  upon 
them,  restraining  their  brutalities,  and  lifting  their 
minds  to  a  patriotic  fury.  He  was  one  of  the  few  In- 
dians of  whom  we  can  say  he  had  a  great  moral  force. 

The  attack  was  begun  by  a  simultaneous  charge  upon 
the  British  and  Indian  forces  ;  against  the  weak  British 
line  the  assault  was  quickly  and  completely  successful. 
The  force  of  regulars  was  broken  almost  at  the  first 
blow,  and  pursued  from  the  field.  The  Indians  made 
a  far  more  effective  resistance.  The  charge  of  the 
mounted  Kentuckians  was  repulsed,  and  the  attack 
quickly  degenerated  into  the  old-fashioned  skirmish  fir- 
ing that  marks  the  ordinary  Indian  fighting  of  these 
days.  The  defeat  and  destruction  of  the  British  con- 
tingent left  the  Indian  antagonist  in  a  position  to  be 
easily  enfolded  by  the  superior  force  of  the  Kentuck- 
ians. The  death  of  Tecumseh,  which  occurred  early  in 
the  action,  was  an  overwhelming  blow,  so  that  they 
were  soon  driven  from  the  field. 

In  this  fight  we  can  plainly  see  the  rapid  ripening  of 
the  Kentucky  troops  in  the  art  of  civilized  warfare.  In 
a  few  months  they  had  passed  from  a  rabble,  which 
could  hardly  be  trusted  to  bear  the  fatigues  of  the 
march,  to  men  who  could  be  relied  on  to  take  the  heav- 
iest burdens  of  war.  Their  attack  quickly  overwhelmed 
a  line  of  regular  British  troops  ;  this  is  sufficient  evi- 
dence of  their  soldierly  quality  gained  in  a  few  months' 


THE    WAR  OF  1812.  167 

experience.  The  rest  of  the  Canadian  war  did  not  in- 
volve Kentucky  troops,  and  may  therefore  be  dismissed 
from  consideration.  We  therefore  turn  to  the  last  and 
most  brilliant  campaign  of  this  war,  that  of  the  Lower 
Mississippi,  including  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  The 
abdication  of  Bonaparte  had  released  a  large  British 
army  that  could  be  used  against  the  United  States. 
Their  other  campaigns  in  the  northern  and  eastern  coun- 
try showed  the  British  that  they  had  little  hope  of  con- 
quests in  that  direction.  There  remained  the  chance  of 
striking  a  great  and  heavy  blow  at  the  country  by  occu- 
pying the  delta  of  the  Mississippi.  There  is  reason  for 
surprise  that  the  British  had  not  taken  this  chance  at 
an  earlier  stage  of  the  war.  The  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi was  practically  undefended.  It  was  of  slow  and 
difficult  access  from  the  centre  of  population  in  the 
Northern  States,  and  the  native  element  was  not  to  be 
trusted  to  make  much  resistance  against  a  vigorous 
attack  ;  a  few  light  ships  and  a  corps  of  three  thousand 
men  might,  if  acting  quickly  and  with  a  little  address, 
have  gained  a  position  from  which  it  would  have  been 
impossible  for  the  American  forces  to  dislodge  them. 

When  Pakenham,  with  a  force  of  ten  thousand  men, 
was  sent  on  this  expedition,  although  he  had  the  flower 
of  the  British  troops  with  him,  and  was  himself  an 
officer  of  excellent  ability,  he  seems  to  have  left  all  his 
wits  on  the  other  side  of  the  water.  His  error  seems 
to  have  been  that  he  despised  his  enemy,  and  chose 
rather  the  ways  of  a  dress  parade  than  the  swift  and 
vigorous  measures  of  war  in  dealing  with  his  foe.  This 
state  of  mind  was  probably  due  to  the  recent  cowardly 
behavior  of  the  American  army  at  Bladensburg,  when 
they   abandoned  the  Federal   capital   to  destruction  in 


168  KENTUCKY. 

a  disgraceful  way.  Pakenham,  fresh  from  successes 
over  the  best  troops  of  Europe,  assumed  his  success  as 
assured.     He  expected  no  serious  fighting. 

When  it  became  certain  that  a  blow  was  to  fall  on 
the  region  about  New  Orleans,  the  Federal  government 
did  the  little  that  was  possible  in  the  way  of  making 
preparations  that  had  been  all  too  long  delayed.  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  of  Tennessee,  who  had  made  a  measure 
of  fame  in  conflicts  with  the  Indians  of  the  South,  and 
whose  energy  in  emergencies  was  well  thought  of,  was 
sent  with  seven  hundred  men  to  the  post  of  New  Or- 
leans. When  the  British  landed,  his  whole  force  con- 
sisted of  this  handful  of  regulars  and  about  three  thou- 
sand half  armed  and  wholly  undisciplined  militia  drawn 
from  the  adjacent  country.  The  British  were  obligingly 
slow  in  their  disembarkation  and  in  their  initial  move- 
ments, so  that  time  was  allowed  for  Tennessee  militia 
under  General  Coffee,  and  a  brigade  of  Kentucky  troops 
under  General  Thomas,  to  arrive  before  the  main  attack 
was  prepared.  When  the  Iventuckians  arrived  they  were 
without  proper  arms,  and,  like  their  brethren  of  the 
northwest  army,  entirely  without  any  other  discipline 
than  that  which  they  had  received  in  their  worthless 
local  musters. 

Before  the  arrival  of  these  reinforcements  Jackson, 
who  was  as  vigorous  as  his  enemy  was  dilatory,  had 
already  delivered  a  serious  blow  to  them  as  they  ad- 
vanced from  their  landing-place.  With  twenty -five 
hundred  men  and  an  armed  schooner  he  assaulted  them 
in  the  march.  The  attack  was  in  the  night,  and  led, 
as  such  attacks  are  apt  to  do,  to  utter  confusion  on  both 
sides.  Jackson's  assault,  though  ineffective  in  check- 
ing the  British  advance,   made   it  more   cautious,    and 


THE    WAR  OF  1812.  169 

gave  him  some  days  in  which  to  receive  further  re- 
enforcements  and  to  complete  his  preparations.  A  por- 
tion of  his  Kentucky  troops  were  at  last  supplied  with 
arms,  but  at  best  not  over  one  half  of  those  present 
were  even  able  to  do  more  than  load  the  muskets  of 
those  who  occupied  the  actual  line  of  battle. 

The  slowness  of  the  British  movements  gave  Jack- 
son twelve  days,  after  the  time  of  his  night  attack,  in 
which  to  complete  his  preparations.  At  the  end  of  this 
time  he  had  a  very  strong  position  on  the  east,  or  New 
Orleans'  side  of  the  river,  where  the  principal  action 
was  evidently  to  be  fought.  The  British  made  a  feeble 
reconnaissance  on  the  28th,  that  served  only  to  show 
Jackson  the  danger  of  having  his  left  turned.  After 
that  the  enemy  gave  him  eleven  more  days  in  which  to 
avail  himself  of  this  information.  At  the  end  of  that 
time  his  lines  were  too  strong  to  be  forced,  even  when 
assaulted  by  the  veterans  of  the  Peninsula  and  defended 
by  raw  militia,  without  a  heavy  preliminary  treatment 
with  artillery,  which  the  enemy  did  not  try  to  apply  to 
them. 

Finally  the  deliberate  Pakenham  arranged  his  plan 
of  assault.  He  sent  fourteen  hundred  men  to  the  west 
bank  of  the  river.  The  remainder  of  his  infantry 
troops,  amounting  to  about  fifty-five  hundred  men,  were 
to  assail  the  main  lines.  Jackson's  whole  force  amounted 
to  about  the  same  as  the  British.  There  were  seventeen 
hundred  men  on  the  west  bank  and  forty-nine  hundred 
opposed  to  Pakenham's  main  column.  The  Kentucky 
troops  were  disposed  as  follows  :  One  hundred  and 
eighty  were  with  Morgan's  line  on  the  left  or  west 
bank,  and  eleven  hundred  were  placed  with  Adair  in 
the  centre  of  the  main  line  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 


170  KENTUCKY. 

When  the  assault  came  it  was  made  with  all  the  pre- 
cision of  a  parade.  It  fell  at  once  upon  the  liues  on 
both  sides  of  the  river.  On  the  west  side  the  British 
carried  the  ill-constructed  fortifications  in  one  charge. 
The  resistance  was  of  the  feeblest  sort.  The  small  force 
of  Kentuckians  behaved  like  the  rest  of  the  outflanked 
force.  If  the  battle  had  depended  on  Morgan's  men  it 
would  have  been  a  sorry  day  for  the  Americans.  On 
the  eastern  side  of  the  principal  attack  it  was,  as  we  all 
know,  a  very  different  story.  There  Jackson  had  massed 
his  most  trustworthy  men  in  a  line  several  files  deep. 
Where  he  expected  the  heaviest  assault,  it  is  said  that 
the  men  were  packed  six  ranks  deep,  —  those  in  the 
rear  passing  their  loaded  muskets  to  the  front  ranks,  re- 
ceiving from  them  the  discharged  guns,  thus  keeping 
up  a  much  more  steady  fire  than  was  possible  with  the 
ordinary  formation  of  a  line  of  battle. 

Against  such  a  fire,  steady  and  coolly  delivered,  not 
even  Pakenham's  veterans  could  stand.  The  British 
never  came  into  a  position  near  enough  to  the  fortifica- 
tions to  do  any  real  fighting.  It  was  a  mere  butchery, 
such  as  was  never  seen  before  or  since  in  modern  war- 
fare. The  British  charge  was,  like  that  of  Balaklava, 
magnificent,  but  it  was  not  war. 

It  is  small  praise  to  say  that  the  Kentucky  troops, 
in  the  centre  of  the  line,  stood  well.  They,  like  the 
rest  of  the  line,  never  came  under  a  serious  fire.  But 
the  furious  Jackson,  deeming  his  success  qualified  by  the 
defeat  of  Morgan's  men  on  the  west  shore,  and  un- 
mindful of  the  fact  that  about  one  fourth  of  his  vic- 
torious troops  were  Kentuckians,  dwells  in  his  report  on 
the  flight  of  the  men  from  Kentucky  who  were  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  river,  as  if  that  was  the  whole  share 
of  its  citizens  in  the  battle. 


THE    WAR  OF  1812.  171 

This  hostility  of  the  American  commander  to  the 
good  name  of  Kentucky  is  easily  explained.  Jackson 
was,  by  affiliation,  a  Tennesseean.  Between  that  State 
and  Kentucky  there  was  always  a  slight  element  of 
jealousy.  Tennesseeans  of  this  time  felt  that  they  were 
in  the  position  of  poor  relations  in  their  intercourse 
with  the  somewhat  arrogant  people  from  Kentucky. 
The  disgraceful  flight  of  the  Federal  troops  on  the  west 
bank  gave  Jackson's  rough  humor  a  chance  to  vent 
itself,  and  although  only  one  eighth  of  this  force  was 
from  Kentucky,  he  laid  all  the  blame  on  them. 

The  campaign  of  New  Orleans  ended  the  important 
features  in  the  military  history  of  Kentucky  for  many 
years.  The  life  of  the  people  was  mainly  to  be  spent 
in  their  arts  and  politics  for  a  generation  to  come.  To 
those  who  find  an  interest  in  political  history,  this  period 
is  not  without  incidents  that  will  well  repay  attentive 
study.  A  very  large  number  of  the  citizens  of  Ken- 
tucky —  nearly  all  the  more  ardent  spirits,  in  fact  — 
were  hereafter  to  take  themselves  to  the  westward  mov- 
ing frontier.  We  find  them  all  along  the  line  from  the 
great  lakes  to  the  Gulf.  They  pass  from  the  limits  of 
Kentucky  history,  yet  their  work  should  not  be  forgot- 
ten when  we  are  considering  the  national  work  of  this 
Commonwealth.  We  find  them  in  every  important  In- 
dian fight,  in  all  the  battles  of  the  Texan  war,  as  well 
as  in  every  legislative  assembly  of  the  Western  States. 
The  first  fifty  years  of  Kentucky  life  was  a  good  school 
of  those  arts  that  serve  to  construct  and  maintain  a 
State,  and  the  whole  of  the  West  felt  the  profit  of  its 
teaching. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

FROM    THE    WAR   OF    1812    TO   THE  WAR  WITH   MEXICO. 

Among  all  peoples  the  intervals  between  wars  afford 
a  series  of  natural  divisions  in  their  history.  These 
disturbances  are  like  the  critical  illnesses  of  a  man, 
which  mark  stages  in  his  history,  though  they  may  be 
termed  unnatural  accidents  in  his  develoj)ment.  The 
period  from  1812  to  1846  was  occupied  by  the  Ken- 
tuckians  in  a  wrestle  with  some  grave  problems,  which 
gave  them  even  more  serious  trouble  than  their  Indian 
difficulties.  The  position  of  this  new  American  State 
in  the  fertile  fields  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  abounded 
in  difficulties ;  rich  in  natural  resources,  but  poor  in  the 
profits  of  experience  so  necessary  to  the  proper  control 
of  communities.  The  place  of  this  young  Common- 
wealth was  like  that  of  a  young  heir  of  good  blood  and 
high  mettle,  who  has  just  come  by  a  great  inheritance, 
but  whose  education  has  not  in  the  least  degree  fitted 
him  for  such  a  care  as  he  should  give  his  affairs. 

The  life  of  the  generation  from  1815  to  1845  was 
full  of  grave  blunders,  but  it  was  full  of  profit  as  well. 
No  State  has  made  more  serious  mistakes  in  govern- 
mental affairs  than  Kentucky.  We  shall  see  that  one 
by  one  they  exhausted  the  follies  that  it  was  possible 
for  a  developing  community  to  commit,  but  we  shall 
also  see  that  they  profited  by  their  painful  experiences. 

The  first  difficulty  concerned  the  monetary  system  of 


FROM    WAR   OF  1812   TO  MEXICAN    WAR.      173 

the  Commonwealth.  The  whole  American  experience 
shows  how  well-nigh  impossible  it  is  to  bring  a  majority 
of  the  people  of  a  State  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
principles  of  exchange.  Men  in  general  can  compre- 
hend the  simple  barter  of  goods ;  but  as  soon  as  barter 
is  further  complicated  by  a  selection  of  some  standard  of 
exchange,  the  problem  gets  quite  beyond  their  compre- 
hension. At  once  these  measures  of  value  become  the 
subject  of  a  cui*ious  delusion  ;  they  are  looked  on  as  mys- 
terious agents  of  almost  superhuman  power.  Whether 
they  are  cowries  or  coins,  miraculous  powers  are  soon 
attached  to  them.  When  the  real  value  of  the  coin  be- 
comes represented  by  a  bauk  note,  the  money  problem 
escapes  entirely  from  the  comprehension  of  the  people. 

The  first  state  of  mind  of  the  Kentucky  people  in 
reference  to  the  currency  was  very  wholesome.  They 
had  been  through  the  severe  experience  of  the  Conti- 
nental paper  money.  They  had  seen  that  currency  go 
down  into  the  pit.  For  a  time,  up  to  about  1785,  Ken- 
tucky was  practically  without  any  form  of  money  what- 
ever. The  first  generation  after  that  experience  clung 
to  barter,  or  they  used  rude  mediums  of  exchange,  such 
as  a  given  weight  of  furs  or  of  tobacco,  in  their  trade. 
The  prejudice  against  paper  money  continued  as  long 
as  there  were  any  to  remember  the  woes  of  the  Conti- 
nental period.  The  first  bank  came  by  accident  in  the 
charter  of  an  insurance  company.1  The  opening  of  a 
trade  with  the  Spanish  at  New  Orleans  brought  some 
Spanish  silver  into  the  State,  and  this  was  long  the 
principal  currency.  After  the  War  of  1812-15  the  com- 
mercial growth  of  Kentucky  was  rapid ;  it  became  the 
main  depot  or  supply  station  for  all  the  country  to  the 
i  See  p.  149. 


174  KENTUCKY. 

west  and  northwest.  Its  industrial  and  social  organ- 
ization was  then  far  ahead  of  the  conditions  in  the 
other  neighboring  States  and  Territories,  so  that  the 
exchangeable  supplies  of  the  region  were  great,  and  the 
force  that  before  had  gone  towards  war  and  politics 
turned  towards  commerce. 

At  this  time  the  general  resumption  of  specie  pay- 
ments in  Europe,  after  the  long  suspension  that  attended 
the  wars  with  Bonaparte,  diminished  the  metallic  cur- 
rency of  the  American  world  in  a  way  that  was  very 
destructive  to  its  business  interests.  The  conservative 
policy  that  Kentucky  had  pursued  left  her  in  excellent 
position  at  the  close  of  the  second  war  with  Great  Brit- 
ain. She  met  the  direct  tax  of  the  Federal  government, 
amounting  to  $169,000,  promptly.  The  people,  bold  in 
their  prosperity,  were  eager  for  new  enterprises.  The 
trade  spirit  was  as  high  as  the  war  spirit  of  the  preced- 
ing generation.  The  great  stream  of  energy  which  had 
been  developed  in  the  battle  with  the  forest  and  its  in- 
habitants, now  flowed  into  the  pursuits  of  peaceful  life. 

The  application  of  steam  to  navigation  early  inter- 
ested this  people.  It  was  natural  that  it  should,  for  their 
experience  in  navigating  against  the  swift  currents  of 
the  streams  made  it  plain  to  them  that  they  needed  the 
aid  of  this  power.  As  early  as  1794,  Edward  West 
launched  a  small  trial  vessel  in  an  artificial  lake,  made 
by  damming  the  waters  of  Elkhorn  Creek  where  it 
flowed  through  the  town  of  Lexington.  This  is  one  of 
the  first,  though  not  the  very  first,  successful  trials  of 
a  river  steamer  in  the  United  States.1     The  complete 

1  Some  of  the  old  geographical  dictionaries  speak  of  Elkhorn  Creek 
as  a  stream  navigable  to  Lexington.  This  attribution  of  navigability 
to  a  trilling  rivulet  of  water  came  from  the  above  experiment. 


FROM   WAR  OF  1812   TO  MEXICAN  WAR.      175 

possession  of  the  more  important  Mississippi  waters, 
which  was  secured  by  the  events  of  1815,  gave  a  great 
impetus  to  steam  navigation.  In  1820  and  thereabouts, 
the  greater  number  of  the  steamboats  in  the  West  were 
owned  in  Kentucky. 

The  manufactures  of  the  State,  which  were  consider- 
able in  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  first  of 
the  nineteenth  centuries,  became  very  much  extended.1 

1  "  Kentucky  was  the  home  and  burial-place  of  at  least  three  of  the 
earliest  inventors  of  steamboats — John  Fitch,  James  Rumsey,  and 
Edward  West.  The  latter  was  born  in  1757  in  Virginia,  and  removed 
in  1788  (one  account  says  in  1785)  to  Lexington,  where  he  died  Au- 
gust 23,  1827.  He  was  the  first  watchmaker  there,  was  a  gunsmith  by 
trade,  and  a  man  of  great  inventive  genius.  He  constructed  a  steam- 
boat on  a  small  scale,  which  in  1794,  in  the  presence  of  hundreds  of 
citizens,  he  had  the  proud  satisfaction  to  see  move  through  the  water 
with  great  velocity,  in  an  experimental  trial  on  the  Town  Fork  of 
Elkhorn,  previously  dammed  up  near  the  centre  of  Lexington  for  the 
purpose.  This  miniature  steamboat  had  no  flywheels;  but  to  overcome 
the  dead  point,  the  piston-rod  was  made  to  strike  metallic  springs  at 
every  return  motion  given  by  the  steam.  The  identical  engine,  or 
rather  cylinder,  piston-rod,  framework,  supply  and  escape  pipe,  were 
preserved  for  more  than  fifty  years  in  the  Adelphi  Society  of  Tran- 
sylvania University,  and  have  since  been  transferred  to  the  Museum 
of  the  Eastern  Lunatic  Asylum.  On  July  6,  1802,  Mr.  West  received 
a  United  States  patent  for  his  steamboat  invention.  Why  he  delayed 
until  then  obtaining  a  patent,  we  have  not  learned.  On  the  same  day 
he  was  awarded  three  other  patents  —  for  a  gunlock,  for  a  nail-cutting 
machine,  and  for  a  nail-cutting  and  heading  machine,  the  first  ever 
invented,  and  which  the  celebrated  English  traveler,  F.  A.  Michaux, 
in  1805,  said  cut  in  twelve  hours  5,320  pounds  of  nails,  and  the 
patent  of  which  'he  sold  at  once  for  $10,000.'  Lexington  shortly 
after  actually  exported  nails  of  her  own  manufacture  to  Louisville, 
to  Cincinnati,  and  even  to  Pittsburg  —  which  is  now  the  most  exten- 
sive nail  manufacturing  point  in  the  United  States,  if  not  in  the 
world.  April  28,  1816  (only  four  and  a  half  years  after  the  first 
steamboat  mi  the  West),  a  steamboat,  made  by  Bosworth  &  West,  on 
Mr.  West's  model,  left  the  mouth  of  Hickman  Creek,  on  the  Ken- 
tucky River,  in  Jessamine  County,  for  New  Orleans.  This  boat,  an 
editorial  notice  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  says,  was  upon  a  plan  dis- 


176  KENTUCKY. 

The  State  at  this  time  developed  a  considerable  amount 
of  mechanical  ingenuity  among  its  people  ;  many  of  the 
inventions  of  its  mechanics  were  important  contribu- 
tions to  the  arts.  As  an  instance  of  the  manufacturing 
development  in  Kentucky,  we  may  take  the  business 
conditions  of  Lexington  in  1817.  There  were  then 
over  sixty  factories,  employing  a  capital  of  £467,225,* 
or  about  two  million  dollars  of  modern  money.  A 
number  of  other  places  were  important  manufacturing 
centres  during  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  In  1819,  Louisville  had  sixty-four  mechan- 
ical shops,  and  about  the  same  number  of  other  stores. 

This  rapid  development  of  mechanical  industry  and 
the  great  growth  of  agriculture  required  some  better 
system  of  currency  than  was  in  existence  at  this  time. 
There  then  existed  but  one  banking  institution,  —  the 
Bank  of  Kentucky,  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000.  After 
a  long  resistance  to  the  project  of  free  banking,  the 
legislature  in  1818  chartered  at  once  forty-six  separate 
banks,  having  a  total  capital  of  $8,720,000.  This  ex- 
periment was  singularly  unfortunate,  for  within  the 
year  the  demand  for  specie  which  came  from  the  United 
States  Bank,  brought  about  the  suspension  of  payments 
on  the  part  of  the  only  strong  banking-house  in  the 
State,  —  the  old  Bank  of  Kentucky,  —  and  wrecked 
nearly  all  the  flimsy  banks  that  had  been  organized 
under  these  charters.     They  were  mostly  in  the  hands 

tinct  from  any  other  steamboat  then  in  use,  and  on  a  trial  against 
the  current  of  the  Kentucky  River,  at  a  high  stage,  more  than  an- 
swered the  sanguine  expectations  of  her  owners  (a  company  of  Lex- 
ington gentlemen),  and  left  no  doubt  that  she  could  stem  the  current 
of  the  Mississippi  with  rapidity  and  ease.  She  did  not  return."  Col- 
lins, ii.  p.  174. 

i  Collins,  ii.  p.  176. 


FROM    WAR   OF  1812    TO   MEXICAN  WAR.      Ill 

of  weak  men,  and  had  begun  their  operations  by  loaning 
money  on  worthless  securities. 

Convinced  by  dearly  bought  experience  that  this 
course  was  perilous,  the  legislature  in  1820  annulled 
these  charters,  and  left  the  problem  of  banking  where 
it  was  before.  So  grievous  was  the  burden  of  debt  that 
was  caused  by  the  collapse  of  speculations  undertaken 
in  the  previous  years  that  the  legislature  was  forced  to 
another  wild  scheme,  which  brought  about  one  of  the 
most  singular  and  instructive  political  struggles  that  had 
ever  been  seen  in  an  American  State.  The  act  in  ques- 
tion provided  for  the  organization  of  the  Bank  of  the 
Commonwealth,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000,000. 
There  was  a  long  and  fierce  debate  before  this  charter 
was  granted :  on  the  one  side  were  arrayed  the  few 
who  by  native  insight  rather  than  by  reading  perceived 
the  true  principles  of  money,  —  men  like  Christopher 
Greenup  and  the  other  clear-headed  members  of  the 
Political  Club  of  Danville ;  on  the  other  side  was  the 
host  of  impetuous  men  who  had  been  harder  tried  in 
their  speculative  combats  with  the  impossible  in  finance 
than  they  ever  had  been  in  their  struggle  with  the  sav- 
ages. They  were  ruined  in  pocket :  they  fancied  that  in 
some  way  the  State  could,  without  injustice  to  any  man, 
make  them  whole  again.  If  there  was  only  a  bank  that 
would  advance  a  little  money  on  securities  they  deemed 
as  safe  as  gold,  all  might  be  well. 

History  repeats  itself  more  often  in  monetary  than 
any  other  matters.  It  was  now  the  innings  of  the  soft 
money  men.  This  Bank  of  the  Commonwealth  was  al- 
lowed to  issue  notes,  for  which  the  holder  could  not 
claim  specie  payment.  It  was  to  have  twelve  trustees, 
and  was  allowed  to  put  out  $3,000,000  of  circulating 
12 


178  KENTUCKY. 

paper.  This  paper  was  made  a  legal  tender  for  all  debts. 
The  next  step  of  the  mad  party  that  led  in  the  legis- 
lature was  to  get  possession  of  the  excellent  Bank  of 
Kentucky,  —  the  only  sound  banking  establishment  in 
the  Commonwealth.  The  old  directors  of  this  institu- 
tion were  turned  out,  and  their  places  taken  by  men 
who  represented  fiat  money.  The  plan  was  to  use  the 
well  earned  credit  of  this  bank  to  float  the  bills  issued 
by  the  new  "  wild  cat  "  enterprise.  The  result  was  to 
overthrow  the  credit  of  the  only  sound  bank  in  the 
country.1 

In  the  course  of  the  year  the  paper  of  the  new  bank 
fell  to  a  fraction  of  its  face  value.  Creditors  properly 
objected  to  payment  in  notes  that  represented  no  real 
value,  and  when  their  projjerty  was  seized,  appealed  to 
the  courts.  Fortunately  at  that  time  the  judiciary  of 
the  State,  still  appointed  by  the  governor,  and  holding 
office  during  good  behavior,  was  composed  of  able  and 
trustworthy  men.  The  effort  to  defeat  the  "  will  of  the 
people  "  by  process  of  law  aroused  an  extraordinary  ex- 
citement throughout  the  State.  The  mad-cap  element, 
deprived  of  the  profits  of  their  majority,  threatened  the 
judges  with  ejection  from  their  seats,  and  even  personal 
violence,  if  they  dared  to  decide  against  the  constitu- 
tionality of  the  law.     The  first  decision  came  from  the 

1  It  is  worth  while  to  notice  that  the  legislature  undertook  to  com- 
mend this  ill-advised  project  to  the  people  by  devoting  one  half  the 
profits  of  the  Commonwealth  Bank  to  what  was  known  as  the  "Lit- 
erary Fund."  This  money  was  to  go  for  the  purchase  of  books  and 
philosophical  apparatus  and  other  betterments  of  the  Transylvania 
University,  Centre  College,  and  to  the  Southern  College  of  Kentucky. 
This  appropriation  came  to  nothing,  but  it  is  an  interesting  evidence 
of  the  desire  for  the  increase  of  the  usefulness  of  the  State  colleges, 
and  the  sense  of  what  might  best  reconcile  the  conservative  people  to 
the  new  monetary  scheme  which  they  so  stoutly  opposed. 


FROM    WAR   OF  1812   TO   MEXICAN   WAR.      179 

court  of  the  Clarke  County  district.  The  sitting  jus- 
tice, Judge  Clarke,  decided  that  the  clause  in  the  act 
which  gave  a  retrospective  effect  to  the  action  of  re- 
plevin was  unconstitutional  and  void. 

It  is  not  worth  while  to  go  into  the  complicated 
technicalities  of  this  decision.  The  essence  of  it  was 
that  the  legislature  had  no  power  to  take  steps  that  in 
any  way  impaired  the  obligation  of  contracts,  as  it  did 
by  making  the  notes  of  the  Commonwealth  Bank  a  legal 
tender.  As  is  often  the  case,  the  decision  touched  only 
a  part  of  the  laws  that  were  in  controversy,  but  it 
clearly  showed  how  the  courts  would  deal  with  the 
whole  problem  when  it  came  fairly  before  them. 

The  State  was  already  divided  into  two  political  par- 
ties, known  as  the  relief  and  anti-relief  parties.  The 
former  insisted  that  the  will  of  the  people  should  pre- 
vail in  the  passage  of  the  laws  for  the  relief  of  debtors ; 
the  latter,  that  these  laws  were  inconsistent  with  the 
Federal  Constitution,  which  forbids  the  passage  of  laws 
that  impair  the  obligation  of  contracts.  As  usual,  the 
more  radical  men  won  at  the  outset,  the  conservative 
element  being  slow  to  array  itself  in  determined  op- 
position to  the  overthrow  of  the  organic  law.  The  re- 
lief party  had  an  overwhelming  majority  in  the  legis- 
lature, and  the  weak-minded  Governor  Adair  was  iu 
sympathy  with  them.  An  extra  session  of  the  legisla- 
ture was  called,  and  the  just  and  fearless  judge,  who 
had  decided  against  the  law,  was  cited  before  it  in  order 
that  steps  might  be  taken  summarily  to  remove  him. 
Judge  Clarke  made  an  able  defense  of  his  action,  and 
there  was  enough  reason  left  in  this  legislature  to  con- 
vince  some  of  his  antagonists  and  to  make  his  removal 
impossible,  at  least  while  the  Court  of  Appeals  had  the 


180  KENTUCKY. 

question  of  his  decision  under  hearing.  In  1823  the 
Appellate  Court  consisted  of  three  judges,  —  Boyle, 
chief  justice,  Mills  and  Owsley,  associates,  —  all  men 
of  a  strong  type  and  unshakable  by  popular  clamor. 
Disgraceful  efforts  were  made  to  frighten  them  into  a 
decision  in  favor  of  the  relief  party.  It  is  infinitely  to 
their  credit  that  the  judgment  they  rendered  was  a  clear 
judicial  verdict  against  the  constitutionality  of  the  law, 
on  the  ground  that  it  violated  the  clause  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  which  forbids  the  States 
to  impair  the  obligations  of  contracts. 

Their  decision  was  received  by  the  relief  party  with 
a  perfect  tempest  of  rage.  Efforts  were  at  once  made  to 
remove  the  judges  by  act  of  the  legislature.  The  elec- 
tion of  1824  was  decided  on  this  issue,  and  Governor 
Joseph  Desha,  the  relief  candidate,  received  38,878 
votes,  and  his  opponent,  Christopher  Thompson,  22,499. 
This  majority  carried  with  it  the  control  of  both  the 
senate  and  house,  but  not  sufficiently  complete  power 
to  enable  the  legislature  to  remove  the  offending  jus- 
tices by  impeachment,  which  required  a  two  third's 
vote.  So  an  indirect  means  of  accomplishing  this  end 
was  devised.  As  soon  as  the  legislature  met  a  bill  was 
brought  in  and  speedily  passed,  to  break  up  the  Su- 
preme Court,  by  repealing  all  the  laws  that  gave  it  ex- 
istence. Then  another  court,  under  the  name  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals,  was  organized.  The  new  places  were 
immediately  filled  by  men  who  were  known  and  earnest 
supporters  of  the  popular  party.  This  revolutionary 
act  unfortunately  had  the  support  of  some  of  the  ablest 
men  in  the  State.  William  T.  Barry,  the  chief  jus- 
tice of  the  new  court.  John  Rowan,  Joseph  Desha,  and 
others  who  were  the  leaders  in  the  relief  party,  were 


FROM    WAR   OF  1812  TO  MEXICAN   WAR.      181 

men  otherwise  apparently  of  high  character  and  dis- 
tinguished ability.  Their  conduct  in  this  matter  is  only 
to  be  explained  by  the  well-known  difference  that  so 
often  exists  between  the  public  and  the  private  conduct 
of  men.1 

Fortunately  for  the  State  the  justices  of  the  old  court 
were  men  of  calm  strength,  who  felt  that  when  the  sub- 
ject was  fairly  presented  to  the  people  they  would  be 
supported.  They  did  not  accept  this  dismissal  from 
their  high  office.  They  made  a  judicious  and  complete 
answer  to  the  legislature  in  its  effort  to  legislate  them 
out  of  office,  and  when  their  offices  were  vacated  by  en- 
actment they  took  the  strong  ground  that  as  their  court 
was  created  by  the  conditions  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
Commonwealth,  nothing  less  than  the  amendment  of  that 
instrument  could  remove  them  from  their  positions.  Al- 
though they  were  deprived  of  their  records,  which  were 
placed  under  a  military  guard  that  allowed  only  the 
new  court  to  have  access  to  them,  they  continued  to  sit 
and  give  judgments  as  before,  leaving  the  final  decision 
of  the  matter  to  the  people.  The  minority  of  the  legis- 
lature, though  their  protests  against  the  illegal  action 
of  their  colleagues  were  refused  even  a  place  on  the 
records  of  both  senate  and  house,  took  the  question  to 
the  people.  Then  came  a  bloodless  campaign,  which 
for  energy  and  bitterness  has  never  been  equaled  in  the 
history  of  the  State,  if  ever  among   English  speaking 

1  Space  does  not  allow,  nor  perhaps  would  the  reader  be  repaid,  for 
the  careful  review  of  this  interesting  struggle.  Those  who  are  curious 
in  such  matters  will  find  a  full  record  of  the  debates  outside  of  the 
legislature  in  the  two  weekly  journals  which  were  created  as  organs 
of  the  two  parties,  the  Patriot  and  the  Spirit  of  '76,  published  in 
Frankfort,  Ky.,  during  the  trial  of  this  momentous  issue  before  the 
people. 


182  KENTUCKY. 

peoples.  Not  even  the  elections  immediately  preceding 
the  Civil  War  gave  anything  like  the  same  fury  to  men's 
minds  as  did  the  struggle  between  the  old  and  new 
court  parties  in  the  election  of  1825.  In  the  canvass 
of  1860  every  one  felt  that  there  was  a  great  elemental 
storm  arising  that  might  sweep  the  land  to  destruction. 
This  subdued  the  fury  of  partisanship. 

The  election  of  1825  had,  in  its  principal  question, 
one  well  suited  to  arouse  the  bitterest  passions.  On 
one  side  was  arrayed  the  "  people's  party,"  —  that  large 
body  of  people  who  from  the  first  had  held  to  the  notion 
that  the  will  of  the  populace  should  be  the  supreme  law. 
Something  of  these  gross  notions  concerning  the  func- 
tion of  government  was  shown  in  the  earlier  history 
of  the  Commonwealth.  We  see  them  in  the  actions 
of  the  French  party.  They  are  marked  in  the  frequent 
cases  of  insubordination  among  Kentucky  troops.  But 
now  was  the  first  time  that  this  socialistic  force  was 
arrayed  against  the  best  interests  of  the  State  itself. 
The  debate  before  the  people  was  long  and  furious,  but 
the  next  election  showed  that  the  heart  of  the  Common- 
wealth was  sound.  They  gave  their  hearty  approval 
to  the  anti-relief  party,  electing  sixty  of  old  court  men 
to  thirty-five  for  the  new  court.  Still  the  senate,  which 
was  only  partly  renewed  by  this  election,  disregarding 
the  will  of  their  constituents,  which  they  pretended  to 
take  as  their  guide,  refused  to  concur  with  the  house  in 
a  bill  to  rescind  the  laws  constituting  the  new  court. 
The  question  was  kept  open  until  the  next  year,  when 
the  voters  reaffirmed  their  decision  in  an  election  which 
so  changed  the  senate  that  the  two  bodies  were  able  to 
pass  an  act  to  annul  this  detestable  legislation.  In  De- 
cember, 1825,  all  the  laws  constituting  the  new  court 


FROM    WAR  OF  1812    TO   MEXICAN  WAR.        183 

were  repealed,  thus  ending  a  contest  that  brought  the 
Commonwealth  in  the  face  of  the  gravest  problems  of 
public  morals. 

During  this  long  struggle  the  Commonwealth  was 
continually  on  the  verge  of  a  civil  war.  The  whole 
machinery  of  law  was  out  of  joint;  no  legal  steps  could 
be  taken  with  any  certainty  that  the  action  was  properly 
brought.  The  records  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  in 
the  possession  of  the  newly  constituted  Court  of  Ap- 
peals, and  were  under  military  guard,  and  the  governor 
was  in  complete  sympathy  with  the  new  court  party. 
The  good  judgment  of  the  people,  together  with  the 
dignity  and  patience  of  the  court,  enabled  the  State  to 
avoid  the  worst  consequences  of  this  great  error,  —  to 
give  it  no  graver  name.  The  act  of  1824,  repealing  the 
laws  constituting  the  new  court,  was  passed  over  the 
governor's  veto,  so  that  the  end  was  attained  against 
the  resistance  of  the  magistrate,  who  had  sworn  to  de- 
fend the  Constitution  that  gave  him  his  authority. 

This  struggle  between  the  parties  of  old  and  new 
courts  had  certain  very  important  effects  upon  the  po- 
litical life  of  the  Commonwealth.  For  the  first  time  it 
brought  the  motives  of  the  radical  element  of  the  popu- 
lation clearly  into  view,  and  arrayed  against  them  the 
conservative  and  law  -  abiding  element  of  the  people. 
The  question  before  the  court,  and  in  its  legal  aspect, 
turned  upon  the  clause  of  the  Federal  Constitution  that 
forbade  the  impairment  of  contracts,  though  the  imme- 
diate victory  was  gained  on  other  and  more  special  legal 
grounds.  But  there  was  a  nearer  and  simpler  question, 
one  of  honesty  in  the  management  of  public  affairs, 
which  was  the  part  debated  before  the  people  and  on 
which  they  gave  their  decision  in  an  unmistakable  way. 


184  KENTUCKY. 

We  may  fairly  regard  this  debate  as  a  turning-point 
in  the  politics  of  the  State.  The  election  which  gave 
the  relief  party  its  overwhelming  majority  in  the  legis- 
lature of  1S24,  and  elected  Desha  by  a  vote  of  thirty- 
eight  thousand  to  twenty-two  thousand  for  his  opponent, 
represents  the  uninformed  and  rash  state  of  public  opin- 
ion. The  reversal  of  this  vote  in  the  following  year 
shows  an  extraordinary  revolution  of  sentiment.  It 
shows  a  moral  awakening  which  was  full  of  promise, 
and  one  that  time  has  justified.  From  this  time  onwards 
the  State  has  always  inclined  to  conservative  ways. 
In  its  end  the  controversy  between  the  old  and  new 
courts  was  very  wholesome,  since  it  showed  the  people 
the  way  in  which  grave  dangers  lay.  That  the  people 
of  the  Commonwealth  met  the  emergency  in  a  manly 
fashion,  promptly  reconsidering  their  first  hasty  steps 
when  they  had  a  chance  to  see  whereto  they  led,  and 
in  the  end  found  a  position  on  firm  ground,  is  a  matter 
of  satisfaction  to  all  who  hold  the  name  of  Kentucky 
dear. 

When  the  final  overthrow  of  the  new  court  came  it 
was  acquiesced  in  by  both  parties,  though  with  the  nat- 
ural inertia  of  politics  for  some  time  the  party  lines 
stood  near  where  they  had  been  placed  by  this  conflict. 
With  apparent  satisfaction  the  people  turned  their  at- 
tention from  their  local  affairs  to  the  larger  field  of  na- 
tional questions.  There  was  a  matter  which  had  been 
in  abeyance  during  the  old  and  new  court  conflict  that 
was  ready  for  use.  In  1825  the  election  for  President 
having  been  thrown  into  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Clay,  then  a  member  from  the  Ashland  district,  had 
cast  his  vote  for  Adams.  It  was  fit  that  he  should 
have  done  so,  for  Adams  fairly  represented  the  party 


FROM  WAR  OF  1812   TO  MEXICAN  WAR.      185 

with  which  he  had  acted  for  many  years.  The  radical 
element  of  Kentucky  and  elsewhere  chose  to  take  this 
vote  in  high  dudgeon.  There  was  then,  and  for  a  long 
time  afterwards,  a  great  dislike  to  New  England,  and 
especially  to  Massachusetts,  among  the  extremists  of 
Kentucky.  This  was,  in  the  beginning,  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  New  England  States  opposed  the  admission  of 
Kentucky  to  the  Federal  Union  ;  even  those  who  did 
not  desire  to  have  that  union  effected  were  naturally 
offended  by  this  resistance.  To  this  original  cause  of 
hatred  was  added  the  anti-slavery  propaganda  which 
came  from  that  region,  as  well  as  the  severe  answer 
that  Massachusetts  had  made  to  the  invitation  sent  her 
by  the  young  Commonwealth  to  concur  in  the  resolu- 
tions of  1798. 

Clay  and  the  cause  of  Adams,  in  the  approaching 
Federal  election,  were  espoused  by  the  old  court  party, 
then  known  as  the  National  Republican  party.  Jack- 
son was  the  candidate  of  the  new  court  party,  then 
known  as  the  Democratic  Republicans.  In  the  State 
election  of  1825  it  was  evident  that  Adams  was  a  bur- 
den that  even  the  strength  of  the  old  court  party  could 
not  carry,  for,  although  this  party  elected  Metcalf,  their 
candidate  as  governor,  Jackson  carried  the  State  in 
November  by  a  majority  of  eight  thousand.  This  vote 
for  Jackson  should  not  be  regarded  as  representing  the 
true  position  of  the  parties  at  this  time.  It  is  well 
known  that  Adams  had  incurred  a  great  burden  of  un- 
popularity throughout  the  United  States,  as  is  shown  by 
his  overwhelming  defeat  in  the  other  States,  while  Jack- 
son represented  the  greatest  victory  that  had  ever  been 
won  by  the  national  troops,  an  action  in  which  nearly 
one  third  of  his  men  were  Keutuckians.     The  people 


18fi  KENTUCKY. 

had  forgiven  him  his  unjust  criticism  of  their  soldiers, 
for  which  he  in  a  fashion  apologized,  and  only  remem- 
bered his  really  noble  and  soldierly  qualities.  The  won- 
der is  that,  under  the  circumstances,  Jackson's  majority 
was  so  small.  The  vote  stood  for  Jackson,  39,394 ; 
for  Adams,  31,460. 

The  defeat  of  Adams  was  a  severe  blow  to  Henry 
Clay,  and  for  a  time  promised  to  make  an  end  of  his 
political  life,  but  this  fascinating  and  pliant  man  soon 
recovered  his  place  among  his  people.  Jackson's  course 
as  President,  though  not  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  more 
conservative  element,  pleased  the  mass  of  the  people. 
For  two  years  this  approval  was  marked  by  the  as- 
cendancy of  the  Democrats.  Even  in  1832  this  party 
succeeded  in  electing  their  governor  by  a  slender  ma- 
jority. But  the  nomination  of  Clay  as  a  candidate  of 
the  National  Republican  or  Whig  party,  to  contest  a 
second  election  with  Jackson,  finally  determined  the  po- 
litical complexion  of  Kentucky.  The  people  were  in  a 
state  of  wild  enthusiasm  for  their  illustrious  citizen,  and 
in  the  November  election  the  poll  stood:  Clay,  43,614; 
Jackson,  36,290. 

On  the  national  arena  Jackson  defeated  Clay  by  a 
large  majority,  but  the  Kentuckian  was  now  master  of 
his  own  Commonwealth,  and  long  ruled  it  wisely.  Al- 
though his  place  in  national  statesmanship  may  be  ques- 
tioned, though  it  may  be  shown  that  his  advocacy  of  a 
tariff  and  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  were  not  founded 
on  sound  principles  of  statesmanship,  there  can  be  no 
question  that  within  the  limits  of  Kentucky  his  influence 
was  beneficial  beyond  that  of  any  other  citizen.  With 
little  academic  instruction,  he  was  a  man  of  a  really 
wide  culture.     His  conservatism  was  not  a  narrow  kind, 


FROM   WAR   OF  1812    TO  MEXICAN  WAR.       187 

but  came  from  a  keen  sense  of  the  value  of  deliberate- 
ness  and  fidelity  iu  all  public  actions.  We  cannot  iu 
this  brief  sketch  trace  his  influence  on  Kentucky  life, 
nor  even  give  the  outlines  of  his  work ;  but  it  should 
be  remembered  that  while  he  was  never  keenly  inter- 
ested in  State  politics,  and  there  is  no  important  State 
legislation  that  can  be  regarded  as  his  work,  yet  in 
founding  and  strengthening  the  conservative  spirit  that 
began  to  come  with  the  greater  wealth  and  culture  of 
the  State,  he  assuredly  did  a  very  great  work.  From 
the  time  of  his  local  victory  over  Jackson  to  the  present 
day,  the  conservative  element  of  Kentucky,  —  the  party 
that  takes  the  tasks  of  government  deliberately  and 
philosophically,  that  debates,  before  acting  and  after  act- 
ing, the  questions  of  public  duty  as  they  should  be  con- 
sidered, —  has  never  lost  its  hold  upon  the  State.  Par- 
ties have  changed  names,  political  issues  have  come  and 
gone,  but  the  conservative  power  that  came  from  the 
bank  question,  and  was  affirmed  by  Clay,  still  holds  the 
ohl  Commonwealth  with  a  firm  hold.1 

The  course  of  Jackson  in  reference  to  the  national 
bank  soon  brought  the  Kentuckians  back  again  to  their 
local  needs.  The  winding-up  of  the  Commonwealth 
Bank  was  skillfully  managed.  The  legislature  ar- 
ranged for  the  calling  in  and  the  cancellation  of  its 
outstanding  paper,  so  that  the  indecent  neglect  of  the 
public  rights,  shown  in  its  founding,  gave  place  to  a 
commendable  honesty  in  its  finish. 

The  notes  of  the  United  States  Bank  were  now  the 

1  I  shall  hereafter  discuss  the  present  position  of  parties  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  believe  that  I  shall  show  that  the  present  so-called  Demo- 
cratic party  of  Kentucky  is  essentially  the  conservative  party  much 
as  it  was  left  by  Clay. 


188  KENTUCKY. 

principal  circulating  medium  of  Kentucky.  They  served 
their  purpose  well  until  Jackson  began  his  assaults  on 
the  bank.  When  it  fell  before  the  furious  campaign 
which  Jackson  waged  against  it,  the  State  legislature 
endeavored  to  replace  its  paper  by  creating  three  banks, 
known  as  the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  the  Bank  of  Louis- 
ville, and  the  Northern  Bank  of  Kentucky,  the  first 
being  the  reconstitution  of  a  bank  that  had  long  ex- 
isted ;  these  banks  had  a  total  capital  of  ten  million  of 
dollars. 

If  Jackson  had  been  defeated  at  New  Orleans,  his 
ruin  could  not  have  done  the  country  as  much  dam- 
age as  his  repeal  of  the  charter  of  the  United  States 
Bank,  without  any  provision  for  its  replacement  in  the 
system  of  American  commerce.  The  immediate  result 
was  a  general  return  to  the  "wild  cat"  money  of  ten 
years  before ;  banks  started  up  at  every  cross-roads' 
town  ;  every  speculative  person  found  banks  to  lend  him 
money,  for  the  more  of  the  paper  that  these  institutions 
could  set  afloat  the  larger  would  be  the  measure  of  their 
profits.  The  Kentucky  banks  were  far  more  provident 
than  those  of  the  neighboring  States,  but  they  could 
not  resist  the  tide  of  fraudulency  that  came  in  the  train 
of  this  wild  speculation.  The  commerce  of  Kentucky 
was  now  involved  with  that  of  half  a  dozen  other  com- 
munities, which  were  of  a  much  less  conservative  humor 
in  the  management  of  the  banking  question.  The  bub- 
ble of  speculation  was  soon  blown  up  to  the  bursting 
point,  and  in  1837  all  the  banks  of  the  United  States 
were,  by  the  resulting  collapse,  forced  into  a  suspension 
of  payments. 

Despite  the  hard  lessons  of  the  preceding  decade, 
Kentucky  had  been  led  into  the  full  tide  of  speculation 


FROM   WAR   OF  ISIS   TO  MEXICAN  WAR.        189 

which  affected  not  only  individuals  but  the  State  itself. 
The  legislature  had  undertaken  a  vast  system  of  pub- 
lic improvements  on  its  own  credit.  It  was  at  work  on 
a  costly  system  of  caualizing  the  principal  rivers,  whose 
whole  water  system  lies  in  the  State  ;  the  Kentucky, 
the  Green,  and  the  Licking  were  to  be  provided  with 
locks  and  dams,  so  that  they  might  be  navigated  from 
the  Ohio  to  their  head-waters.  A  great  series  of  turn- 
pikes also  received  the  aid  of  the  State.  These  im- 
provements were  well  conceived.  The  State  was  suf- 
fering under  a  grievous  want  of  ways  of  communication. 
Its  centres  of  population  and  of  industry  were  far  from 
the  Ohio,  then  the  only  great  pathway  of  commerce. 
The  clayey  character  of  the  soil  in  all  the  fertile  dis- 
tricts made  unmacadamized  roads  impassable  to  any 
heavy  traffic  during  half  the  year.  The  State  had 
shown  commendable  enterprise  in  dealing  with  this  car- 
dinal difficulty  of  its  civilization.  It  was  a  great  mis- 
fortune that  the  effort  was  made  in  a  period  of  such 
monetary  uncertainty.  But  the  very  stimulus  to  enter- 
prise that  led  to  the  undertaking  of  these  improvements 
was  due  to  the  speculation  that  caused  commercial  dis- 
aster. 

The  financial  hurricane  of  1837  produced  a  universal 
and  enduring  distress  in  Kentucky.  Nearly  every  busi- 
ness man  in  the  State,  and  very  many  of  the  farmers, 
were  rendered  bankrupt  or  burdened  by  debt  to  the 
point  of  virtual  insolvency.  In  this  time  of  trial  the 
people  showed  the  profit  of  the  lessons  of  the  preced- 
ing ten  years.  There  was  a  general  effort  to  mitigate 
the  evils  by  mutual  help  rather  than  by  legislation. 
The  State  refused  to  forfeit  the  charters  of  the  sus- 
pended banks,  or  to  compel  them  to  resume  specie  pay- 


190  KENTUCKY. 

ments.  The  brief  breathing  time  of  1838,  when  for  a 
few  months  the  banks  tried  to  resume  payment,  revived 
the  hopes  of  the  people ;  but  the  burden  of  unliquidated 
debt  rested  too  heavily  on  them  for  an  enduring  revival 
of  business,  so  that  the  banks  were  compelled  again  to 
suspend  their  proper  functions.  The  years  1840,  1841, 
and  1842  were  the  most  hopeless  that  this  people  have 
ever  known.  Not  even  the  shadowed  days  of  the  Civil 
War  brought  such  despair  to  their  firesides.  War 
brings  the  light  of  action  and  expectation,  with  its 
swift  movements,  that  is  wanting  in  a  time  of  universal 
bankruptcies. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  this  time  of  trial  led  to  a 
revival  of  the  "  relief  party,"  which  grew  rapidly  to 
formidable  dimensions.  But  the  conservative  element 
was  bold,  and  readily  met  their  schemes.  The  legisla- 
ture refused  to  take  any  unreasonable  steps.  The  most 
they  did  was  to  modify  the  system  of  the  courts,  so  as 
to  give  the  creditor  a  little  more  time  in  which  to  meet 
the  actions  brought  against  him.  Gradually,  through 
infinite  suffering  that  is  recorded  in  the  long  dockets  of 
the  courts  and  the  cloud  of  judgments  that  fell  upon  all 
forms  of  property,  the  peojjle  won  their  way  back  to 
commercial  prosperity. 

This  episode  closes  the  remarkable  events  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  financial  development  of  the  State.  From 
this  time  on  the  Commonwealth's  banks  were  singularly 
sound  and  efficient  institutions.  They  were  commonly 
domestic  in  their  system ;  they  trusted  for  their  strength 
to  a  mixture  of  control  exercised  by  the  State  through 
its    ownership  of  stock  and  the  citizen    stockholders.1 

1  In  many  ways  these  banks  were  singularly  domestic  institutions. 
Custom  required  the  cashier  to  reside  in  the  bank  building,  so  that 


FROM  WAR   OF  1812  TO  MEXICAN  WAR.       191 

They  gave  to  the  people  a  better  currency  than  ex- 
isted in  any  State  west  of  the  mountains.  Even  in  the 
trial  of  the  Civil  War  they  stood,  as  they  still  stand, 
unbroken.  Their  strength  is  so  great  that  although 
their  currency  has  been  destroyed  by  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  they  remain  the  mainstays  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Kentucky  people  outside  of  one  or  two  of 
the  larger  cities. 

It  will  be  worth  the  reader's  while  to  follow  this  pe- 
culiar history  of  Kentucky  banking  beyond  the  limits 
of  this  sketch.  I  know  no  other  case  in  the  history  of 
these  American  States  where  the  problem  of  an  ex- 
change system  has  been  so  beautifully  shown  in  all  its 
various  workings.  In  the  first  period  of  the  State's 
history  we  had  a  long  time  in  which  the  industry  was 
carried  on  in  the  main  by  barter.  Then  came  the  period 
when  the  Spanish  currency  of  the  dollar  was  the  main- 
stay of  commerce.  It  is  likely  that  the  singular  philo- 
Spanish  party  got  some  of  its  influence  from  the  use  of 
this  currency.  A  sense  of  kinship  comes  with  a  com- 
mon money.  Relations  with  Spain  that  now  seem  so 
impracticable,  probably  looked  more  natural  to  a  people 
who  used  Spanish  money  in  the  most  of  their  transac- 
tions. When  the  want  of  small  money  became  great, 
as  it  did  about  the  beginning  of  the  century,  the  need 
was  met  by  cutting  the  Spanish  dollar  into  four  or  eight 
parts,  called  "quarters"  or  "bits."  These  angular 
fragments  of  "  cut  money  "  passed  current  for  thirty 
years  or  so,  and  were  the  subject  of  several  legislative 

the  bank  affairs  were  in  a  way  a  part  of  the  household  of  its  execu- 
tive arrangements.  It  may  be  that  this  domestication  of  the  bank 
aided  in  part  to  secure  the  peculiar  honesty  that  marked  their  admin- 
istration. 


1 92  KENTUCKY. 

enactments.  This  plan  of  dividing  coins  into  segments 
was  a  singular  if  not  unique  device,  and  long  served  a 
good  purpose. 

When  the  commerce  of  this  people  came  to  the  point 
where  a  hetter  system  of  money  became  necessary,  we 
find  them  learning  the  hard  lesson  of  banking  by  the 
dear  way  of  experience,  and  profiting  by  that  experience 
in  a  singularly  immediate  fashion.  Moreover,  the  ad- 
vance of  the  Kentuckians  in  the  methods  of  govern- 
ment can,  to  a  great  degree,  be  attributed  to  the  com- 
plete discussion  of  the  principle  of  public  faith  that  they 
had  then  to  decide  in  the  matter  of  the  Commonwealth 
Bank  and  the  new  court  questions.  It  is  impossible 
in  this  place  to  do  more  than  furnish  an  outline  of  this 
extremely  intei'esting  chapter  in  commercial  history,  but 
it  will  be  well  for  some  student  of  political  economy  to 
give  especial  attention  to  the  instructive  series  of  events. 
In  no  other  American  State  can  the  money  problem  be 
found  in  such  a  good  position  for  study.  The  careful 
student  will  there  find  a  wonderful  catalogue  of  mone- 
tary expedients. 

From  their  trials  in  business  the  people  more  than 
once  turned,  with  their  usual  eagerness,  to  the  questions 
of  national  politics.  The  wide  habit  of  thought  bred  in 
their  early  wrestle  with  national  problems,  such  as  the 
first  forty  years  of  the  life  of  the  Commonwealth  opened 
to  them,  made  such  matters  always  of  paramount  in- 
terest. 

The  Harrison  presidential  campaign  of  1840  was  de- 
cided, as  was  the  first  Jackson  campaign,  on  the  mem- 
ories of  the  "War  of  1812.  Van  Buren  received  32,616, 
while  Harrison's  vote  was  58,489,  a  majority  of  nearly 
two  to  one,  —  and  this  despite  the  fact  that  Richard  M. 


FROM    WAR   OF  1812   TO  MEXICAN    WAR.       193 

Johnson,  the  candidate  for  Vice-President  with  Van 
Buren,  was  a  Kentuckian  of  Kentuckians,  the  man  who, 
it  was  believed,  had  killed  the  great  Tecuruseh  in  the 
battle  of  the  Thames,  and  who  had  otherwise  deserved 
well  of  his  country.  The  Whig  vote  was  doubtless  re- 
duced by  the  popularity  of  this  illustrious  citizen. 

In  1844  Clay  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  the  Pres- 
idency. Although  he  was  supported  by  his  party  with 
a  singular  ardor,  his  majority  iu  the  State  was  only  about 
nine  thousand,  a  great  falling  off  from  the  majority 
given  to  Harrison  four  years  before.  This  marks  a  pe- 
culiar set  of  politics  in  Kentucky,  which  we  must  now 
explain. 

In  this  election  the  Democratic  party  represented  the 
project  for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  which  now  was 
becoming  a  burning  question  in  American  politics.  The 
attempt  which  Texas  was  then  making  for  independence 
of  Mexico  claimed  and  gained  the  keenest  sympathy 
from  Kentucky.  Many  of  the  leaders  in  that  remark- 
able conflict  were  from  this  Commonwealth,  and  they 
all  represented  the  motives  of  that  western  life  which, 
iu  time  of  trial,  knows  no  State  bounds.1  There  have 
been  few  incidents  in  American  history  so  calculated  to 
interest  the  Kentucky  people.  The  struggle  was  ro- 
mantic in  its  object  and  in  its  details.  For  years  the 
Kentucky  people  had  been  deprived  of  all  share  in  the 
excitement  of  war.  War  for  political  objects  has  always 
had  an  absorbing  interest  to  a  people  who  have  the  out- 
going type  of  mind  combined  with  rude  vigor.  More- 
over, the  growing   interest   in   the  slavery  problem  led 

1  Many  hundred  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Texan  army  were  from  Ken- 
tucky.    General  Albert  Sydney  J  ihnston,  General  Felix  Huston,  aud 
many  other  distinguished  officers  were  her  sons. 
13 


194  KENTUCKY. 

many  strong  advocates  of  that  institution  to  desire  an 
extension  of  territory  in  the  Southwest,  into  which  the 
slave  population  might  find  its  way.  These  influences 
led  many  persons  temporarily  to  detach  themselves  from 
the  old  Whig  or  conservative  party,  and  to  join  the  side 
that  advocated  aiding  Texas  in  her  conflict  with  Mexico, 
or  her  admission  into  the  United  States.  The  same 
influences  acted  throughout  the  Union,  but  with  more 
energy  in  Kentucky  than  elsewhere,  because  the  force 
of  sympathy  with  the  Texan  cause  was  stronger  than  in 
any  other  Whig  State.  Nothing  else  could  show  so  well 
the  gain  in  the  conservatism  in  Kentucky  as  the  fact 
that,  despite  all  these  natural  incentives  to  sympathy 
with  Texas,  the  State  was  held  by  a  majority  of  over 
nine  thousand  in  resistance  to  the  project  of  a  war  with 
Mexico.  The  basis  of  Clay's  opposition  to  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas  was  in  the  very  tendency  to  the  extension 
of  slavery  that  this  annexation  would  bring  about.  A 
majority  of  the  people  of  Kentucky  were  no  longer 
friendly  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  though  they  were 
even  more  heartily  opposed  to  the  abolition  party. 

The  defeat  of  Clay  was  the  final  blow  to  his  long  de- 
ferred hopes  of  occupying  the  chair  of  the  President  at 
AVashington.  He  still  remained  the  foremost  figure  of 
Kentucky  politics,  but  his  influence  even  there  ends  with 
this  defeat.  This  failure  of  their  candidate  was  the 
more  exasperating  because  treachery  in  New  York  de- 
termined the  issue  against  him.  The  nation  at  large 
abandoned  the  cautious  policy  that  strangely  enough  had 
come  to  be  the  motive  of  Kentucky,  which  in  the  pre- 
ceding generation  was  the  most  radical  State  in  the 
Union.  Had  it  been  left  to  Kentucky,  despite  her  nat- 
ural sympathy  with  Texas  and  the  pro-slavery  South, 


FROM  WAR   OF  1812   TO  MEXICAN  WAR.        195 

there  would  probably  have  been  no  annexation  of  new 
territory  for  many  years,  and  slavery  might  have  been 
hemmed  within  its  old  bounds. 

We  leave  the  discussion  of  the  events  of  the  Mexican 
"War  to  the  next  chapter,  and  turn  back  to  consider  the 
condition  of  the  institution  of  slavery  during  this  middle 
period  of  the  State's  history.  The  tables  in  the  Appen- 
dix will  give  the  reader  a  synopsis  of  the  increase  in 
the  African  element  of  the  population  in  the  successive 
decades  since  the  first  census.  It  will  easily  be  seen 
that  the  first  settlers  of  Kentucky,  though  they  came 
from  slave-holding  colonies,  brought  few  negroes  into 
the  State.  As  soon  as  the  pioneer  life  began  to  give 
place  to  a  commercial  activity,  and  men  took  to  plant- 
ing for  profit  and  not  for  subsistence,  the  negro  popula- 
tion rapidly  increased.  From  1790  to  1840  there  was 
a  rapid  gain  of  the  African  element  of  the  population 
represented  in  per  cents,  at  the  several  decades  as  fol- 
lows. The  upper  line  gives  the  per  cent,  of  increase  in 
the  preceding  decade  in  the  black,  the  lower  in  the 
white,  population. 

1800.    1810.  1820.      1830.        1810.  1850.     1860.    1870. 


Slaves    224 

99 

57 

20  1-3 

10  1-3 

15  2-3 

7    —6 

Whites  200 

8-1 

36 

22 

13  13 

26 

17    14 

Thus  the  African  race  increased  more  rapidly  than 
the  white  up  to  1830.  In  1840  the  white  population 
shows  a  notable  increase  over  the  black.  This  gain  is 
more  marked  in  1850,  it  is  extended  in  1860,  and  in 
1870  the  black  population  shows  an  absolute  decrease. 
In  a  small  way  this  actual  decrease  in  1870  may  be  due 
to  the  emigration  of  the  negroes  during  the  war,  but  it 
will  be  noticed  that  it  very  nearly  agrees  with  the  series 
of  changes  belonging  to  the  earlier  decades.     This  will 


196  KENTUCKY. 

be  more  apparent  to  the  reader  from  a  consultation  of 
the  tables  in  the  Appendix,  where  also  the  notable  total 
increase  of  the  blacks  is  shown.  "We  may  say  that  this 
decrease  would  have  come  about  in  the  natural  succes- 
sion of  changes,  even  if  the  war  had  not  been  fought  or 
emancipation  established.  There  is  great  difficulty  in 
analyzing  the  history  of  slavery  in  Kentucky.  There 
are  no  sufficient  records  on  which  to  base  the  study  of 
the  problem.  In  the  following  statement  the  writer  has 
had  to  rely  on  his  long  personal  knowledge  of  the  Com- 
monwealth and  on  fair  opportunities  for  insight  into  its 
motives. 

In  the  first  place  the  reader  should  observe  that  only 
a  small  part  of  the  Commonwealth  is  fit  for  anything 
like  plantation  life.  The  greater  part  of  the  area  re- 
quires the  thrift  and  personal  care  of  the  owner  to 
make  its  cultivation  remunerative.  Even  that  part  of 
the  land  of  Kentucky  that  may  be  used  for  tillage  in  a 
large  way  is  decidedly  more  profitable  in  the  hands  of 
farmers  who  cultivate  small  areas.  Next,  it  should  be 
noticed  that  the  whole  system  of  Kentucky  life  fell  from 
the  first  into  something  essentially  like  the  yeomanry 
system  of  England.  The  land  came  into  the  hands  of 
small  landholders,  who  in  the  main  worked  with  their 
own  hands.  Each  year  increased  this  element  of  the 
State  at  the  expense  of  the  large  properties.  The  prin- 
ciple of  primogeniture,  which  in  Virginia  outlasted  the 
laws  that  supported  it,  never  gained  a  place  in  Ken- 
tucky. The  result  was  that  each  generation  saw  the 
lands  more  completely  divided,  and  the  area  fit  for  slave 
labor  became  constantly  less  occupied  by  large  farmers. 
There  was  also  in  this  yeoman  class,  as  well  as  among 
the  more  educated  men  of  fortune,  a  growing  discontent 


FROM  WAR   OF  1812  TO  MEXICAN  WAR.       197 

with  the  whole  system  of  slave  labor.  Nor  was  this  dis- 
like to  slavery  based  on  economic  considerations  alone. 
Already,  in  the  first  decades  of  Kentucky  life,  there  was 
a  strong  protest  from  many  religious  people  against  the 
system.  When  Clay,  about  1798,  began  to  be  a  power 
in  the  land,  his  plan  of  emancipation,  with  or  without 
colonization,  became  an  article  of  faith  with  his  party, 
and  was  held  by  the  larger  part  of  the  conservative 
people.  There  came  to  be  a  prejudice  against  all  forms 
of  commerce  in  slaves.  This  notion  came  to  its  height 
in  the  decade  between  1830  and  1840,  and  is  probably 
responsible  for  a  part  of  the  rapid  relative  decrease  of 
slaves  within  those  years.  From  the  local  histories  the 
deliberate  student  will  easily  become  convinced  that  if 
there  had  been  no  external  pressure  against  slavery  at 
this  time  there  would  still  have  been  a  progressive  elim- 
ination of  the  slave  element  from  the  population  by 
emancipation  on  the  soil,  by  the  sale  of  the  slaves  to 
the  planters  of  the  Southern  States,  and  by  their  coloni- 
zation in  foreign  parts. 

In  the  decade  from  1840  to  1850  the  activity  of  the 
abolition  party  in  the  North  became  very  great;  all 
along  the  Ohio  River  there  were  stations  for  the  rescuing 
of  slaves  and  conveying  them  to  safe  places  beyond  the 
border.  The  number  of  negroes  who  escaped  in  this  way 
was  small,  —  it  probably  did  not  average  more  than  one 
hundred  a  year,  but  the  effect  upon  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  people  was  very  great.  The  truth  is,  the  ne- 
groes in  Kentucky  were  not  generally  suffering  from 
any  bonds  that  weighed  heavily  upon  them.  Slavery  in 
Kentucky  was  of  the  domestic  sort ;  that  is,  it  was  to 
the  most  of  their  race  not  a  grievous  burden  to  bear. 
This  is  well  shown  by  the  fact  that  thousands  of  them 


198  KENTUCKY. 

quietly  remained  with  their  masters  in  the  counties 
along  the  Ohio  River,  when  in  any  night  they  might 
have  escaped  across  the  border.  Their  state  was  such 
that  if  they  had  one  and  all  been  given  six  months  to 
wander,  and  at  the  same  time  a  choice  of  returning  to 
their  old  homes,  at  least  three  quarters  would,  at  the  end 
of  this  time,  have  been  found  again  under  the  yoke  in 
their  old  places  of  abode.  Still  this  underground  railway 
system,  although  it  did  not  free  many  slaves,  profoundly 
irritated  the  minds  of  their  owners,  and  even  of  the 
class  that  did  not  own  slaves. 

Accompanied  as  was  this  work  of  rescuing  slaves  by 
a  violent  abuse  of  slaveholding,  it  destroyed  in  good 
part  the  desire  to  be  rid  of  the  institution  which  had 
grown  on  the  soil,  and  gave  place  to  a  natural  though  un- 
reasonable determination  to  cling  to  the  system  against 
all  foreign  interference.  More  than  all,  it  roused  anew 
the  hatred  of  New  England,  which  had  well-nigh  dis- 
appeared in  the  growing  conservatism  of  the  people. 
John  Quincy  Adams's  visit  to  Kentucky,  and  his  noble 
defense  of  Clay,  had  at  one  time  made  an  end  of  this 
old  rancor,  at  least  among  the  conservative  Kentuck 
ians.  This  visit  of  ex-President  Adams  was  in  1844. 
His  speech  in  Maysville,  in  answer  to  the  welcome  of 
General  Richard  Collins,  deserves  quotation  here.  Gen- 
eral Collins  said  that  Mr.  Adams  "  has  placed  Kentucky 
under  deep  and  lasting  obligations  for  his  noble  defense 
of  her  great  statesman,  Henry  Clay,  in  his  letter  to  the 
Whigs  of  New  Jersey,"  to  which  Mr.  Adams  replied  : 
"  I  thank  you,  sir,  for  the  opportunity  you  have  given 
me  of  speaking  of  the  great  statesman  who  was  con- 
nected with  me  in  the  administration  of  the  general 
government,  at  my  earnest  solicitation  —  who  belongs 


FROM  WAR  OF  1812  TO  MEXICAN  WAR.       199 

not  to  Kentucky  alone,  but  to  the  whole  Union,  and  is 
not  only  an  honor  to  his  State  and  the  nation,  but  to 
mankind.  The  charges  to  which  you  refer,  though  after 
my  term  of  service  had  expired  and  it  was  proper  for 
me  to  speak,  I  denied  before  the  whole  country,  and  I 
here  reiterate  and  reaffirm  that  denial ;  and  as  I  expect 
shortly  to  appear  before  my  God,  to  answer  for  the  con- 
duct of  my  whole  lifg,  should  these  charges  have  found 
their  way  to  the  throne  of  eternal  justice,  I  will  in  the 
presence  of  Omnipotence  pronounce  them  false."  1 

From  1840  to  1860  the  progress  of  thought  in  Ken- 
tucky probably  increased  the  number  of  actual  aboli- 
tionists at  a  rapid  rate,  but  it  diminished  the  number  of 
those  who  desired  to  see  some  deliberate  and  legal  solu- 
tion of  the  appalling  difficulty.  This  separation  of  the 
two  parties  was  unfortunate  but  natural.  Thus  the 
election  of  Polk  may  be  taken  as  a  critical  point  in  the 
history  of  slavery  within  the  State.  After  that,  the 
emancipation  party  lost  much  ground  that  was  only  in 
small  part  gained  by  the  abolitionists. 
1  See  Collins,  i.  p.  50. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FROM     THE     BEGINNING     OF     THE     MEXICAN     WAR     TO 
THE    BEGINNING    OF    TH*E    REBELLION. 

The  Mexican  War,  with  its  long  prelude  in  the  vary- 
ing scenes  of  the  Texas  struggle,  had  a  great  interest 
for  the  people  of  Kentucky  ;  it  brought  back  the  mem- 
ories of  their  own  long  combat  in  the  first  forty  years 
of  their  State  life,  much  of  which  was  still  in  the  mem- 
ory of  the  older  men.  The  leaders  in  this  Texas  strug- 
gle were  men  of  heroic  mould.  Houston,  Crockett,  and 
Johnston  still  commaud  our  sympathy,  and  in  that  day 
they  held  a  large  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  western 
people.  Nothing  so  well  shows  the  singular  strength 
of  the  conservative  party  in  Kentucky  as  the  fact  that 
after  years  of  excitement  they  still  held  the  State  by  an 
overwhelming  majority,  and  cast  their  votes  against  the 
whole  project  of  southern  extension  of  the  national 
territory.  Though  not  in  direct  terms  a  vote  against 
the  extension  of  the  area  of  slavery,  the  election  of 
1844  was  in  fact  a  vote  of  tliis  nature.  This  jiolitical 
position  could  be  made  plain  did  space  permit  us  to 
make  a  careful  analysis  of  the  motives  of  the  time. 
But  the  action  speaks  for  itself. 

The  resolutions  for  the  annexation  of  Texas  were 
passed  in  February,  1845,  but  it  was  not  until  the 
8th  of  May,  1846,  that  the  battle  of  Palo  Alto  brought 
about  the  condition  of  war  between  the  United   States 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR   TO   THE  REBELLION.    201 

and  Mexico.  Kentucky  was  called  on  for  a  contin- 
gent of  twenty-four  hundred  men.  Ten  thousand  men 
at  once  were  ready  for  the  war,  so  that  it  became  a 
struggle  for  the  chance  of  service.  The  force  first  sent 
out  consisted  of  the  Louisville  Legion,  an  independent 
company  under  the  command  of  John  S.  Williams,  of 
Clarke  County  ;  the  second  regiment  of  infantry  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  W.  R.  McKee,  of  Lexingtou, 
with  Lieutenant -Colonel  Henry  Clay,  Jr.,  second  in 
command  ;  and  the  first  regiment  of  cavalry,  under  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Humphrey  Marshall. 

Three  of  the  leading  officers  who  were  to  take  charge 
of  the  operations  of  the  war  were  chosen  from  citizens 
of  Kentucky.  Zachary  Taylor,  major  -  general  of  the 
regular  army  ;  William  0.  Butler,  of  Carroll  County, 
major-general  of  volunteers  ;  and  Thomas  Marshall,  of 
Lewis  County,  brigadier-general  of  volunteers. 

In  this  brief  story  it  will  only  be  possible  to  con- 
sider the  doings  of  the  Kentucky  troops  during  the 
Mexican  War,  in  so  far  as  a  history  of  that  war  will 
throw  light  on  the  character  of  the  men  of  the  time,  to- 
gether with  so  much  of  the  actions  of  particular  men  as 
will  show  the  training  which  in  their  youth  fitted  them 
for  their  more  important  services  in  the  Civil  War. 
Many  of  these  soldiers  of  the  Mexican  War  reappear  in 
the  subsequent  civil  history  of  the  State,  and  a  number 
of  them  remained  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the  Fed- 
eral and  the  Confederate  armies.  Their  experience 
and  reputation  acquired  in  this  foreign  war  did  much 
to  give  them  leadership).  When  we  come  to  cousider 
the  steps  that  led  to  the  Civil  War,  and  the  conduct  of 
its  campaigns,  we  shall  constantly  have  to  trace  the  im- 
portant influence  of  these  men. 


202  KENTUCKY. 

So  long  a  time  had  elapsed  since  the  population  of 
Kentucky  had  been  engaged  in  warfare,  that  there 
were  few  of  the  volunteers  for  the  war  with  Mexico, 
officers  or  men,  who  had  ever  looked  upon  a  line  of  bat- 
tle. The  long  peace  had  brought  the  militia  into  the 
contempt  into  which  a  citizen  soldier  unfortunately  al- 
ways falls  as  soon  as  the  time  of  need  is  past.  There 
was  probably  no  State  in  the  Union  where  the  neglect 
of  the  military  art  was  at  this  time  so  complete.  The 
militia  consisted  of  extensive  paper  lists,  and  a  few 
small,  half-drilled  companies,  unfamiliar  with  the  evolu- 
tions of  the  battalion,  and  without  the  discipline  that 
converts  the  citizen  into  the  soldier.  There  remained 
from  the  military  life  of  the  old  days  but  two  elements 
of  great  value  to  the  soldier,  —  an  instinctive  as  well  as 
a  trained  ability  in  the  use  of  fire-arms,  and  a  strong 
combative  spirit.  On  these  foundations,  with  such  vig- 
orous bodies  as  this  soil  breeds,  the  judicious  discipli- 
narian can  soon  build  the  soldier. 

The  United  States  troops  were  to  act  against  a  people 
who  possessed  a  large  share  of  the  qualities  of  the  good 
soldier.  The  Mexicans  were  hardy,  brave,  and  patient ; 
they  were  well  trained  in  the  simpler  part  of  the  art  of 
war,  their  frequent  internal  struggles  having  given  them 
recent  and  extensive  experience  in  military  affairs. 
They  furnished  an  excellent  opportunity  to  test  the 
quality  of  the  Kentucky  militia  after  their  long  desue- 
tude of  arms. 

The  first  noticeable  fact  brought  out  by  the  Mexican 
War  is  that  these  Kentucky  troops  showed  little  of  the 
rebellious  spirit,  or  the  unwillingness  to  endure  hard- 
ships and  submit  to  command,  that  marked  their  ances- 
tors in  the  War  of  1812.    The  long  training  in  civic  life 


THE  MEXICAN   WAR   TO   TIIE  REBELLION.    203 

had  finally  subjugated  the  savage  impulse  of  insubordi- 
nation  that  was  the  opprobrium  of  the  pioneer  soldier. 
Except  for  a  little  "  larking,"  the  troops  went  through 
the  trying  preliminary  work  of  changing  from  citizens 
to  soldiers  in  a  very  quiet  way.  Though  abundant  time 
was  afforded  for  the  work,  there  was  no  effort  to  give 
these  forces  a  good  camp  training  before  they  went  into 
service.     Their  officers  were  incompetent  for  this  work. 

The  first  campaign  of  the  Mexican  War  was  far  ad- 
vanced before  the  troops  of  the  Commonwealth  came 
to  the  front.  The  first  engagement  involving  any  Ken- 
tucky troops  was  the  assault  on  Monterey.  In  this 
action  the  Louisville  Legion  had  a  subordinate  place  ; 
they  garrisoned  a  mortar  battery,  where  they  were  put 
to  the  severest  trial  that  can  befall  new  troops,  being 
exposed  for  nearly  twenty-four  hours  to  an  artillery 
fire,  to  which  they  could  make  no  reply.  In  this  ac- 
tion General  Butler  was  severely  wounded,  and  Major 
Philipe  N.  Barbour  of  the  regular  army,  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  was  killed.  Although  there  is  nothing  pic- 
turesque in  this  action  of  the  Louisville  Legion,  it  is 
important  as  showing  a  willingness  to  endure  fire  with- 
out resistance,  which  is  most  praiseworthy  in  new  sol- 
diers. 

The  next  considerable  action,  in  fact  the  only  one  of 
the  Mexican  War  that  was  largely  shared  in  by  the 
Kentucky  troops,  was  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista.  In 
this  action  General  Taylor  had  4,759  men,  of  whom 
about  900,  or  nearly  one  fifth,  were  Kentuckians.  His 
loss  in  killed  and  wounded  amounted  to  723  men,  of 
whom  162  were  Kentuckians.  Thus  the  Kentucky 
troops  lost  considerably  more,  in  proportion  to  their 
numbers,  than  did  the  army  considered  as  a  whole. 


204  KENTUCKY. 

The  importance  of  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista  as  a 
test  of  the  Kentucky  troops  warrants  us  in  taking  the 
space  necessary  to  discuss  the  more  important  details 
of  its  history.  Next  after  the  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
it  was  to  Kentuckians  a  gauge  of  valor  as  a  standard 
of  what  men  could  do  under  the  press  of  superior  num- 
bers through  a  long  and  desperate  fight  which  often 
seemed  hopeless  to  the  stoutest  hearts ;  in  this  way  it 
served  in  later  times  to  affect  the  military  conduct  of 
Kentuckians  in  other  fields  of  battle. 

The  circumstances  that  led  to  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista  were  peculiar.  General  Taylor  found  himself, 
after  the  capture  of  Monterey,  with  far  too  few  troops 
to  venture  on  the  further  prosecution  of  his  campaign. 
He  had  parted  with  the  greater  portion  of  his  regular 
battalions,  which  were  taken  by  General  Scott,  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, for  his  expedition  designed  to  pene- 
trate to  the  City  of  Mexico  by  way  of  Vera  Cruz.  It 
was  necessary  for  Taylor  to  hold  Monterey  and  Saltillo, 
in  order  to  give  any  protection  whatever  to  his  lines  of 
communication.  His  force  was  deemed  sufficient  for 
this  duty  of  holding  what  had  been  gained  by  the  cap- 
ture of  these  strongholds.  By  holding  these  places  he 
could  avert  the  danger  of  a  sudden  invasion  of  Texas 
while  the  blow  to  be  delivered  by  Scott  was  preparing. 
It  clearly  was  not  expected  that  Taylor  should  either 
take  the  offensive,  or  that  he  would  have  to  struggle 
with  any  large  body  of  the  enemy.  This,  as  it  turned 
out,  was  a  rash  miscalculation  of  the  force  and  soldierly 
sense  of  the  enemy.  No  sooner  had  Taylor's  troops 
been  depleted  by  the  removal  of  his  veteran  regiments, 
than  Santa  Anna  prepared  to  overwhelm  this  Federal 
army  with  a  force  of  four  or  five  times  their  numbers, 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR  TO   THE  REBELLION.    205 

before  Scott's  column  could  get  iuto  position  to  assail 
him.  Leaving  garrisons  in  Monterey  and  Saltillo,  Tay- 
lor wisely  resolved  to  gain  some  ground  to  the  south  on 
which  to  find  a  suitable  place  to  meet  the  attack  which 
he  had  reason  to  expect.  Once  penned  within  his  forts, 
he  would  soon  be  compelled  to  surrender. 

A  few  miles  south  of  Saltillo,  the  only  practicable 
way  of  approach  to  it  from  the  southward  is  by  passes 
through  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  ;  the  road  lies 
in  a  valley  two  to  three  miles  wide,  in  which  stands  the 
Hacienda  of  Buena  Vista.  At  a  place  called  Angostura, 
or  the  straightened  pass,  which  is  two  or  three  miles 
yet  further  south,  the  space  between  the  mountains  is 
narrowed  to  a  width  of  about  a  mile.  Observing  the 
advantages  of  this  excellent  position,  Taylor  pushed  his 
force  a  few  miles  further  on,  where  he  could  have  a 
camping  ground  and  a  good  water  supply.  He  also 
shrewdly  remarked,  that  if  he  should  fall  back  to  this 
chosen  position  at  Buena  Vista,  the  impetuosity  of  the 
Mexicans  in  following  up  his  retreat  would  be  more 
likely  to  lead  them  to  attack  him  there  than  if  they 
found  him  in  that  position.  This  acumen  was  charac- 
teristic of  that  admirable  soldier. 

While  at  his  more  advanced  position  of  Agua  Neuva, 
diligent  effort  was  made  by  Taylor  to  ascertain  the 
place  and  strength  of  Santa  Anna's  army,  but  the  Mexi- 
cans were  possessed  of  an  abundant  and  highly  efficient 
cavalry,  by  which  they  so  clouded  their  main  force  that 
nothing  certain  was  known  of  the  enemy's  numbers  or  in- 
tentions. A  reconnaissance  of  the  celebrated  Ben  McCul- 
lough,  afterwards  a  famous  Confederate  general,  brought 
the  news  that  the  enemy  were  in  great  force,  and  not 
far  away.     On  the  evening  of  February  21,  Taylor  de- 


206  KENTUCKY. 

camped  and  made  ready  to  take  up  his  position  in  the 
defile  of  Angostura,  on  ground  that  had  been  carefully 
prepared  by  proper  study  for  his  action.1  Still  he  did 
not  march  from  his  comfortable  camp  until  McCul- 
lough  himself  confirmed  the  tale  that  his  scouts  had 
brought  in ;  only  then  Taylor  marched  for  the  position 
where  he  meant  to  have  his  fight.  When  this  position 
was  taken  he  sent  a  detachment  of  cavalry  to  recon- 
noitre for  the  enemy  to  the  southward.  They  were 
scarcely  out  of  camp  on  the  morning  of  the  22d,  when 
they  ran  upon  the  advance  of  Santa  Anna's  troops, 
already  within  a  mile  of  the  more  advanced  posts  of 
the  Federal  camp. 

Santa  Anna  had  taken  up  his  line  of  march  almost 
at  the  moment  when  McCullough  left  his  post,  expect- 
ing to  make  a  night  attack  on  Taylor's  army  in  its 
position  at  Agua  Neuva.  Finding  that  Taylor  had  re- 
treated, he  pushed  on,  driving  before  him  the  mule 
teams  and  the  other  laggards  of  the  army.  These  flee- 
ing trains  should  have  been  a  timely  warning  to  Gen- 
eral Wool,  who  commanded  the  outlying  posts  of  the 
little  army ;  but  the  stampede,  if  it  was  noticed,  was  nut 
acted  on,  and  so  the  army  was  put  in  the  utmost  risk 
of  an  attack  before  the  necessary  final  preparations  for 
the  combat  had  been  made.  In  place  of  pressing  on  in 
their  attack,  the  Mexicans,  finding  the  United  States 
forces  in  a  strong  position,  and  not  knowing  how  they 
had  surprised  their  enemy,  halted  and  gave  them 
time  to  form.  They,  too,  had  not  expected  a  battle  at 
this  point;  their  fair  presumption  was  that  Taylor  had 

1  See  articles  in  Old  and  New  for  June  and  July,  1871,  entitled 
"Recollections  of  Mexico  and  the  Battle  of  Ruena  Vista,"  probably 
from  the  pen  of  the  late  General  H.  W.  Benham. 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR  TO   THE  REBELLION.    207 

fallen  back  to  Saltillo,  where  he  had  some  fortifications 
and  a  considerable  garrison.  Moreover,  the  ground  on 
which  they  found  they  had  to  give  battle  demanded  a 
very  peculiar  disposition  of  troops,  which  required  time 
to  make. 

The  slopes  which  extended  from  the  flanks  of  the 
parallel  mountains  to  the  central  part  of  the  pass  were 
cut  up  by  numerous  deep  gulches,  which  were  worn  out 
by  torrents  in  the  short  rainy  season,  but  were  now 
quite  without  water.  This  made  a  formation  in  line  of 
battle  very  difficult.  The  Mexican  troops  were  at  the 
end  of  a  long  and  fatiguing  march,  for,  besides  the  thirty 
or  more  miles  which  they  had  made  to  the  point  where 
they  expected  to  find  Taylor,  they  had  rapidly  marched 
fifteen  miles  further  before  they  beat  up  his  quarters. 
They  did  well  as  soldiers  to  rest  before  they  gave 
battle.1 

The  American  troops  were  in  excellent  heart ;  their 
only  difficulty  was  that  the  great  height  of  the  position 
(6,000  feet)  made  them  breathless  under  exertion.  The 
troops  of  the  enemy  were  carefully  reconnoitred.  There 
were  actually  about  six  thousand  cavalry  and  about 
nineteen  thousand  of  the  other  arms,  but  the  reports  of 
McCullough  led  to  even  higher  estimates  on  the  part 
of  the  Federal  commanders.  The  greatest  disadvantage 
to  the  United  States  troops,  if  it  is  worth  while  to  count 
disadvantages  where  the  numbers  were  so  overwhelming 
against  the  defense,  was  in  the  cavalry,  for  that  of  Tay- 
lor was  ill  disciplined  and  generally  mounted  on  mules. 
Although   the   mule   is   a  soldierly  beast  he  does  not 

1  The  following  general  account  of  the  movements  of  the  troops  in 
this  action  is  mainly  taken  from  the  articles  by  General  Benhaui  in 
Old  and  New,  vide  supra. 


208  KENTUCKY. 

make  a,  good  war  horse.  The  disposition  of  the  ground 
fortunately  made  the  excellent  Mexican  cavalry  of  lit- 
tle effective  value.  Their  superiority  in  artillery  was 
of  more  importance.  In  guns  they  at  least  twice  out- 
numbered the  Americans,  and  they  were  of  much  heavier 
calibre  and  were  well  served. 

On  the  first  day  the  only  attack  of  importance  came 
late  in  the  afternoon,  when  a  division  of  Mexicans  en- 
deavored, by  climbing  the  ridges  on  the  left  flank  of  the 
Americans,  to  get  a  flanking  fire  on  their  lines.  As  is 
well  known,  a  down  hill  fire  of  infantry  is  worthless, 
while  a  fire  up  a  slope  is  singularly  effective ;  so,  after 
losing  about  five  hundred  men,  killed  and  wounded,  to 
half  a  dozen  wounded  of  the  Americans,  this  effort  was 
abandoned.  In  the  evening  Santa  Anna  summoned 
Taylor  to  surrender;  his  answer  was,  "  I  have  the  honor 
respectfully  to  decline  your  proposition." 

On  the  morning  of  the  23d  a  little  effort  was  made 
to  entrench  one  of  the  batteries,  but  the  modern  art  of 
creating  fortifications  on  a  line  of  battle  was  then  un- 
known, and  these  defenses  were  of  little  value.  The 
time  was  spent  in  patient  expectation  of  the  storm  that 
the  morrow  was  to  bring. 

The  first  event  on  the  second  day  was  an  effort  of 
the  infantry  columns  against  the  centre  of  the  American 
line.  This  charge  was  led  by  the  gallant  Santa  Anna 
in  person.  The  accurate  fire  of  Washington's  battery 
broke  it  at  the  distance  of  five  hundred  yards  of  the 
line  without  any  aid  of  musketry.  Santa  Anna's  horse 
was  killed  under  him  in  this  charge,  and  several  hun- 
dred of  his  men  put  hors  de  combat.  This  signal  re- 
pulse gave  the  battle  a  pause  of  some  hours.1     At  this 

1  At  this  point  in  the  action  came  the  daring  reconnaissance  of  a 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR   TO  THE  REBELLION.    209 

time  Taylor  came  upon  the  ground,  having  been  prepar- 
ing for  the  defense  of  Saltillo  in  case  he  met  defeat  in 
the  pass  of  Angostura. 

The  character  of  the  ground  was  such  as  to  make  a 
continuous  line  of  battle  attack  from  the  enemy  impos- 
sible. The  Mexican  movements  were  reduced  to  a  suc- 
cession of  isolated  charges.  Short  as  was  the  distance 
from  steep  to  steep  across  the  valley,  it  was  not  possi- 
ble, and  fortunately  not  necessary,  for  Taylor  completely 
to  occupy  it  with  the  scant  force  at  his  disposition. 
Fortunately  the  ragged  ground  admitted  of  another  dis- 
position than  a  continuous  line  of  battle,  which  could 
not  have  been  maintained  by  Taylor's  force  for  an  hour. 
The  several  gulches  and  ridges  served  as  natural  lines 
of  defense,  behind  which  the  concealed  troops  could  be 
shifted  from  time  to  time  to  meet  the  successive  attacks 
without  being  under  the  fire  of  the  enemy. 

These  successive  charges  at  last  succeeded  in  break- 
ing the  centre  of  the  American  line,  where  the  2d  In- 
diana gave  way.  The  regiment  was  brave  enough,  but 
the  colonel  who  was  supporting  O'Bryau's  battery,  mis- 
taking the  order  to  "  limber  up  "  for  an  advance  as 
a  movement  of  retreat,  ordered  his  men  to  fall  back. 
This  movement  was  at  first  made  in  a  soldierly  way, 
but  the  men  being  raw  and  undisciplined,  their  retreat 
soon  passed  into  a  rout,  and  they  were  not  reformed 
dining  the  action. 

In  the  afternoon  a  large  force  of  Mexican  cavalry 
succeeded  in  making  their  way  around  the  flank  of  the 
American  line,  and  threatened  an  attack  on  its  rear. 
This  was  met  by  a  brilliant  charge  of  cavalry,  under  the 

solitary  Mexican  officer,  which  well  shows  the  valor  of  their  soldiers 
Benham,  p.  14. 

14 


210  KENTUCKY. 

command  of  Colonel  Yell,  of  Arkansas,  and  by  Colonel 
Jeff  Davis's  Mississippi  regiment.  The  Kentucky  cav- 
alry sent  some  men  into  this  combat,  but  it  did  not  act 
as  a  body,  their  colonel,  Marshall,  refusing  to  move ;  but 
portions  of  the  companies  without  orders  took  part  in 
the  charge.  This  failure  of  Marshall  to  act  in  this  mo- 
ment of  need  is  severely  criticised  by  Benham,  who  was 
there  as  staff  officer  with  General  Wool.  It  is  explained 
by  the  fact  that  Marshall  had  been  placed  as  a  guard 
over  the  stores  and  trains  at  the  ranch  of  Buena  Vista. 
Moreover,  his  men  were  badly  mounted,  and  worse 
armed.  Humphrey  Marshall  was  a  dull,  inert  man  in 
action,  but  absolutely  free  from  the  vice  of  cowardice. 
The  famous  Confederate  general,  John  H.  Morgan,  was 
a  subaltern  in  this  regiment. 

At  noon  the  action  was  interrupted  by  a  severe  storm 
of  rain  and  hail.  After  it  had  ceased  Taylor  made  an 
effort  to  break,  by  a  charge,  the  Mexican  line,  which 
seemed  to  him  open  to  assault.  Wood's  and  Burnett's 
Illinois  regiments  and  McKee's  Kentucky  regiment,  in 
all  about  fifteen  hundred  men,  or  nearly  half  his  avail- 
able force,  were  sent  forward. 

In  their  advance  in  open  echelon  order,  this  force 
came  suddenly  upon  a  deep  ravine,  from  which  an  un- 
perceived  force  of  about  six  thousand  of  the  enemy 
emerged  in  a  counter  charge.  The  American  line  was 
rapidly  broken  and  forced  back.  In  this  fierce  action 
Colonel  McKee  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Clay  were  both 
killed.  Their  men  made  a  gallant  effort  to  bear  them 
off  the  field,  but  the  rescuing  parties  were  all  slain. 
O'Bryan's  pieces,  which  had  advanced  to  support  the 
charge,  were  all  taken.  At  this  critical  moment  the 
pieces    under    the    command    of    Sherman    and    Bragg 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR   TO  THE  REBELLION.    211 

opened  an  admirable  cross-fire  on  the  advancing  columns 
of  the  enemy,  which  were  compelled  to  move  in  close 
order  by  the  shape  of  the  ground,  and  drove  them  back 
with  great  slaughter.  The  loss  of  Taylor's  army  in  this 
disastrous  movement  was  the  most  serious  of  the  day. 
If  it  had  been  followed  up  with  vigor  the  Mexicans 
could  have  overwhelmed  the  shattered  remnants  of  the 
American  army.  But  the  enemy  were  in  no  shape  to 
take  further  action.  None  of  their  movements  were 
sufficiently  successful  to  give  them  heart ;  their  commis- 
sariat was  bad,  and  their  men  in  dire  want  of  food  and 
rest.  Therefore,  though  they  had  won  a  substantial  vic- 
tory if  they  could  have  made  avail  of  their  successes, 
they  abandoned  the  field  during  the  night,  and  hastened 
with  the  shattered  remnants  of  their  army  to  reenforce 
the  troops  that  were  gathering  to  resist  the  impending 
advance  of  Scott  by  way  of  Vera  Cruz.  Santa  Anna 
judged  correctly  that  Taylor's  force  was  not  likely  to  be 
of  further  trouble  to  him,  and  did  the  best  that  could 
have  been  done  under  the  circumstances  that  surrounded 
him. 

"With  the  exception  of  Colonel  Marshall,  whose  con- 
duct may  perhaps  be  considered  open  to  some  criticism, 
the  behavior  of  the  Kentucky  troops  was  good.1  Their 
loss  was  proportionately  considerably  greater  than  that 
cf  the  whole  command,  and  they  remained  in  as  good 

1  Benham's  criticism  on  Marshall's  conduct  is  very  severe.  He 
states  that  Maishall  refused  to  obey  the  orders  of  General  Taylor,  and 
kept  himself  out  of  the  fight.  The  testimony  of  other  observers,  who 
had  a  chance  to  know  the  facts,  is,  that  Marshall  was  charged  with 
the  protection  of  the  trains  in  the  rear  of  the  army,  and  that  he  did 
his  duty  in  his  appointed  task.  Moreover,  General  Benham  had 
among  his  brother  soldiers  the  reputation  of  being  a  bitter  and  careless 
critic. 


212  KENTUCKY. 

heart  as  any  part  of  Taylor's  shattered  army.  They 
have  an  even  share  in  the  credit  that  this  action  gave  to 
the  American  volunteer.  This  battle  proved  that  Amer- 
ican militia,  properly  commanded,  could  sustain  a  long 
series  of  attacks  from  overwhelming  numbers  without 
becoming  demoralized  by  the  many  well  delivered  blows, 
each  of  which  struck  their  lines.  Every  credit  should, 
however,  be  given  to  the  admirable  regular  artillery  of 
the  army,  the  batteries  of  Bragg,  O'Bryan,  Washington, 
and  Sherman,  which  repeatedly  served  to  turn  the  tide 
of  defeat  when  it  seemed  to  be  fatally  strong. 

The  only  other  Kentucky  troops  that  were  engaged 
in  any  severe  action  during  the  Mexican  War  was  the 
independent  company  of  Captain  Williams,  —  in  later 
days  a  general  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  now  a  sen- 
ator from  Kentucky.  This  company  was  with  Scott's 
army,  and  took  a  very  meritorious  part  in  the  actions  of 
his  campaign.  Under  its  valiant  leader  it  was  engaged 
in  the  assault  of  Cerro  Gordo.  Under  the  general  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Haskell  it  there  took  part  in  the  most 
brilliant  charge  of  the  war.  Nothing  could  have  been 
better  than  its  behavior.  Some  other  regiments  of  Ken- 
tucky troops  were  raised  for  this  war,  but  its  unex- 
pected termination  deprived  them  of  a  chance  to  show 
their  qualities. 

The  interest  of  the  Kentucky  people  in  the  Mexican 
War  was  intense.  The  affection  for  the  memory  of 
its  dead  is  marked  by  a  peculiar  circumstance.  Some 
time  before  the  Commonwealth  had  instituted  a  State 
burial  place  on  the  hills  above  the  capitol  at  Frank- 
fort, and  honored  some  of  its  dead  heroes  with  inter- 
ment there.  This  tribute  was  extended  to  the  dead  of 
the  Mexican  War.     Their  remains  were  brought  from 


THE  MEXICAN    WAR   TO   TnE  REBELLION.     213 

the  distant  battle-fields  and  committed  to  this  garner  of 
heroic  dust.  Since  that  day  it  has  been  the  custom  of 
the  State  to  beg  from  the  kindred  of  those  who  have 
died  in  the  service  of  their  country  the  privilege  of  giv- 
ing this  distinction  to  their  bodies.  Thus  in  the  pro- 
cess of  time  there  have  been  gathered  into  this  cemetery 
the  remains  of  a  multitude  of  distinguished  men  who 
have  served  the  State,  not  only  on  battle-fields  but  in 
every  walk  of  life  in  which  men  could  gain  honorable 
fame. 

The  sympathy  with  the  heroic  aspects  of  the  Mex- 
ican War  did  not  in  the  least  change  the  political  con- 
ditions of  the  Commonwealth.  In  August,  1847,  the 
elections  for  the  State  legislature  resulted  in  the  choice 
of  twenty-seven  Whigs  to  eleven  Democrats  for  the  sen- 
ate, and  of  fifty-nine  Whigs  to  forty-one  Democrats  in 
the  house.  In  the  next  year  General  Taylor,  the  Whig 
candidate  for  the  Presidency,  had  a  majority  of  17,524. 
Thus  even  the  excitement  of  a  popular  war  was  not 
sufficient  to  diminish  the  strength  of  the  conservative 
party.  It  should  be  noticed  that  the  Mexican  War 
first  arrayed  the  national  parties  on  the  question  of 
slavery.  The  strong  Whig  attitude  of  Kentucky  is  a 
fair  index  of  the  public  mind  at  this  time  in  regard  to 
the  extension  of  the  slave  power. 

After  the  close  of  the  Mexican  War  the  attention  of 
the  people  was  again  strongly  directed  to  their  State 
constitution.  This  instrument  was,  by  its  own  condi- 
tions, so  arranged  as  to  make  amendment  difficult  to 
accomplish.  After  a  number  of  efforts  to  secure  a  suf- 
ficient vote  of  the  people  to  bring  the  constitutional 
convention  together  in  August,  1848,  101,828,  out  of 
141,620  suffrages  in  the  State,  were  cast  for  a  conven- 


214  KENTUCKY. 

tion.  There  were  two  principal  features  in  the  con- 
stitution of  1799  which  were  unsatisfactory  to  the  peo- 
ple. In  the  first  place,  there  was  a  general  objection 
to  the  principle  of  the  appointment  of  the  judiciary  by 
the  governor.  Under  the  constitution  of  1799  all  the 
judges,  the  clerks  of  the  courts,  justices  of  the  peace, 
all  attorneys  for  the  Commonwealth,  were  appointed  by 
the  governor  or  by  the  courts.  It  seems  impossible  to 
resist  the  conviction  that  this  system  of  appointing  the 
judiciary  machinery  is,  on  the  whole,  the  best  that  can 
be  contrived,  yet  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  it  does  not 
recommend  itself  to  the  mass  of  American  citizens. 
One  by  one  the  States  have  fallen  away  from  it,  until 
at  present  there  are  but  two  that  retain  this  feature 
which  they  inherited  from  their  British  ancestors.  The 
complaints  against  it  are  that  it  separates  the  people  too 
much  from  a  control  of  that  part  of  the  administration 
with  which  they  have  the  most  to  do ;  that  it  gives  the 
governor,  in  times  of  political  excitement,  too  much 
power  to  express  his  views  in  the  appointment  of  judges 
and  other  officers.  Something  of  this  was  certainly  seen 
in  the  old  and  new  court  controversy,  and  on  other  oc- 
casions. We  may  doubt  the  wisdom  or  the  conserva- 
tism of  this  step,  but  it  should  be  remembered  that  Ken- 
tucky was  not  the  first  to  take  it.  Their  action  came 
after  it  had  been  adopted  in  the  greater  part  of  the  ex- 
isting States. 

In  an  agricultural  community,  in  the  ordinary  con- 
dition of  State  affairs,  the  system  of  an  elective  judi- 
ciary works  moderately  well.  The  result  in  Kentucky 
has  been  more  felt  in  the  appellate  court  than  in  the 
lower  halls  of  the  judiciary.  This  highest  court  has 
lost  in  part  its  reputation  as  a  law-giving  body.     The 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR   TO   THE  REBELLION.    215 

ablest  jurists  in  the  Commonwealth  have  felt  unwilling 
to  take  the  scant  pay  and  onerous  duties  of  this  position. 
When  this  bench  has  been  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  able 
men  under  the  new  system,  they  have  generally  been 
unwilling  to  retain  their  offices  for  any  length  of  time, 
preferring  the  chances  of  active  practice  of  their  profes- 
sion to  the  clamor  and  difficulties  of  repeated  elections. 
The  circuit  judges  have,  on  the  whole,  been  as  satisfac- 
tory as  under  the  old  system. 

Another  evil  of  considerable  moment  was  the  power 
of  the  legislature  to  raise  money  on  the  credit  of  the 
State.  This  had  led  to  the  imposition  of  a  consider- 
able burden  upon  the  Commonwealth.  The  funded 
debt  amounted,  in  1849,  to  four  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars.  The  greater  part  of  this  had  been  incurred  in 
the  various  public  improvements  made  in  the  specula- 
tive years  of  the  preceding  decade.  The  people  desired 
to  see  this  debt  extinguished,  and  to  have  the  constitu- 
tion so  arranged  that  it  would  not  be  possible  to  repeat 
the  process  of  giving  drafts  on  the  future  to  meet  tem- 
porary needs.  From  the  beginning  of  their  history,  be 
it  said,  the  people  of  Kentucky  have  been  slow  to  con- 
tract and  quick  to  pay  their  debts. 

These  two  objects  were  accomplished  by  the  amend- 
ments to  the  constitution.  The  whole  body  of  the  ju- 
diciary was  made  elective  by  the  people,  and  the  State 
was  practically  secured  against  debt  by  some  very  pe- 
culiar features  in  its  constitution,  the  like  of  which 
probably  do  not  exist  in  any  other  State.  This  curious 
protection  against  debt  has  proved  of  great  value  to 
the  best  interests  of  the  Commonwealth.  Moreover, 
the  provisions  for  changing  the  constitution,  before  dif- 
ficult, were  now  made  so  complicated  that  it  has  been 


218  KENTUCKY. 

found  practically  impossible  to  secure  any  further  changes 
of  that  instrument,  despite  the  considerable  need  that 
now  exists  for  substantial  changes.  The  main  aims  of 
the  defenses  that  are  about  the  costitution  are  com- 
mendable. Exjterience  in  the  old  and  new  court  con- 
troversy had  shown  that  party  conflict  might  run  very 
high  in  the  State,  and  for  a  moment  an  overwhelming 
majority  might  be  enabled  to  effect  hasty  changes  in  the 
organic  law.  By  shaping  this  law  in  such  a  way  that 
it  would  be  necessary  for  the  people  to  continue  in  one 
mind  about  the  necessity  of  a  change  for  a  decade  or 
more,  they  avoided  the  risk  of  hasty  action.  By  requir- 
ing a  two  thirds  vote  of  all  those  holding  suffrage  in  the 
Commonwealth  to  call  the  revising  convention  into  ex- 
istence, they  secured  the  instrument  from  the  meddling 
of  a  less  considerable  majority.  The  result  is,  as  the 
reader  will  perceive,  that  this  constitution  is  one  of  the 
most  archaic  in  the  world.  It  contains  untouched,  and 
may  retain  for  a  generation  to  come,  extensive  provi- 
sions for  the  maintenance  of  slavery.  Along  with  these 
evils,  arising  from  excessive  caution,  there  have  been 
very  great  advantages  arising  from  the  security  against 
the  accumulation  of  debt.  The  considerable  burden 
which  existed  at  the  time  the  constitution  was  amended 
has  been  gradually  cleared  away,  until  at  present  there 
is  no  actual  State  debt. 

With  the  change  in  the  constitution  the  State  en- 
tered on  a  short  decade  of  prosperity.  From  1848  to 
1857  the  State  saw  its  richest,  and  on  the  whole  its 
most  quiet,  years.  The  State  debt  was  slowly  disap- 
pearing; the  people  had  apparently  abandoned  the  old 
frenzy  for  speculation,  nnd  were  given  to  conservatism 
in  their  business  operations. 


THE  MEXICAN-  WAR   TO   THE  REBELLION.     217 

With  all  these  elements  of  natural  prosperity  there 
was  a  restless  humor  in  the  matter  of  slavery,  a  forebod- 
ing sense  that  there  was  trouble  to  come  on  that  ques- 
tion. From  1850  to  1860  the  anti-slavery  party  became 
rapidly  extended  in  Kentucky.  In  1851  the  party  fa- 
voring the  abolition  of  slavery  made  their  first  political 
campaign  in  the  State.  Their  candidate  for  governor 
had  a  vote  of  3,621,  being  somewhat  more  than  three 
per  cent,  of  the  whole  vote  of  the  State.  This  vote 
by  no  means  represents  the  numbers  of  the  anti-slavery 
party  at  this  time  in  the  State.  It  was  a  well-known 
fact  that  the  Whig  party  was,  as  a  whole,  inclined  to 
some  action  that  would  limit  the  soil  of  slavery,  and 
bring  about  emancipation  along  with  the  deportation  of 
the  blacks.  This  belief,  along  with  the  growing  ex- 
citement on  the  slavery  question,  gradually  reduced  the 
majority  of  the  Whig  party,  and  sent  many  of  its  natural 
supporters  into  the  ranks  of  the  Democrats.  By  a  grad- 
ual change  of  sentiments  the  Democratic,  once  the  rad- 
ical party  of  the  State,  became  the  advocate  of  things 
as  they  were,  opposing  the  notion  of  change  in  the  sys- 
tem of  Southern  society.  This  change  first  marks  itself 
distinctly  in  the  elections  of  1851,  that  which  gave  Cas- 
sius  M.  Clay,  the  abolition  candidate  for  governor,  his 
vote  above  referred  to.  In  this  election  Lazarus  W. 
Powell,  the  Democratic  candidate,  had  a  plurality  of 
about  one  thousand  votes,  a  portion  of  the  more  ad- 
vanced Whigs  having  deserted  Archibald  Dixon,  their 
nominee,  for  the  abolition  candidate,  while  another  frag- 
ment of  the  party  was  inclined  to  support  slavery,  hav- 
ing voted  with  the  Democrats.  The  Whigs  were  now 
in  that  attitude  of  indecision  on  the  slavery  question 
which  eventually  made  an  end  of  their  party. 


218  KENTUCKY. 

Cassius  M.  Clay  was  the  leader  of  the  abolition 
movement ;  for  a  number  of  years  he  had  been  the 
most  prominent  member  of  that  party  in  the  Common- 
wealth. This  gentleman  was  long  and  almost  alone 
the  advanced  guard  of  abolitionism  in  the  State,  and 
did  more  than  all  others  to  win  from  the  Kentuekians 
a  respect  for  that  valorous  political  faith.  Of  good 
birth,  excellent  education,  and  endowed  with  the  daunt- 
less aggressive  courage  which  everywhere  captivates 
men,  he  defied  the  pro-slavery  extremists,  at  the  same 
time  so  winning  their  admiration  that  he  never  incurred 
their  hatred. 

In  1845  Mr.  Clay  established  an  anti-slavery  paper 
in  Lexington.  A  meeting  of  citizens  ordered  him  to 
discontinue  its  publication.  At  a  time  when  he  was 
prostrated  by  a  severe  illness  a  number  of  citizens  of 
Lexington  packed  the  contents  of  his  printing-office 
and  sent  it  to  Cincinnati.  Shortly  afterwards  he  re- 
turned with  it  and  quietly  resumed  the  publication  of 
his  paper.1  He  then  went  to  the  Mexican  War,  where 
he  was  captured  and  was  long  a  prisoner.  On  his  re- 
turn his  fellow-citizens  presented  him  with  a  sword. 
His  intrepidity  and  eloquence  gained  him  the  respect 
of  his  antagonists,  and  did  much  to  take  away  the  con- 
tempt with  which  his  party  was  first  regarded  by  the 
pro-slavery  people. 

All  through  the  decade  from  1850  to  1860  the  ex- 
citement concerning  slavery  steadfastly  increased.  It 
is  impossible  to  catalogue  the  small  conflicts  that  arose 
from  the  stampeding  of  negroes  and  the  disturbances 
at  political  meetings  that  gave  fuel  to  the  fire.  The 
progress  of  the  debate  served  to  divide  the  pro-slavery 
l  See  Collins,  i.  51. 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR  TO  THE  REBELLION.    219 

from  the  anti-slavery  parties  with  constantly  increasing 
distinction.  Still,  in  1852,  the  vote  for  Scott  showed 
that  the  Whig  candidate  for  the  Presidency  was  the 
choice  of  Kentucky  by  a  vote  of  57,068  to  53,806  for 
Pierce. 

The  singular  outbreak  of  anti-Catholic  and  foreign 
feeling  which  marked  American  politics  in  1853  to 
1856  was  very  violent  in  Kentucky.  This  conflict  was 
the  more  curious  from  the  fact  that  Kentucky  had 
hardly  any  foreign  population,  and  the  native  Catholics 
were  excellent  and  respected  citizens.  The  old  parties 
were  much  changed  by  this  revolution,  still  the  greater 
part  of  the  Whig  party  went  with  the  Know  Nothings, 
and  the  Democrats  generally  sided  with  the  party  that 
opposed  them.  For  a  while  this  curious  excitement, 
which  in  the  hereafter  will  puzzle  the  student  of  politics 
even  more  than  it  does  those  of  our  own  day,  completely 
overwhelmed  the  interest  in  the  slavery  question.  In 
the  election  of  1855  the  Know  Nothing  candidate  for 
governor  received  4,400  majority  over  his  competitor. 
This  election  led  to  a  very  disgraceful  riot  in  Louisville, 
in  which  the  roughs  of  the  native  American  party  at- 
tacked the  Catholic  people.  This  riot  led  to  the  loss  of 
twenty-two  lives,  and  to  the  destruction  of  a  large 
amount  of  property.  This  disgraceful  affair  brought  the 
Know  Nothing  party  into  much  discredit,  still  the  Whig 
element  was  so  strong  that  in  the  presidential  election 
for  1856  the  Democratic  ticket,  though  its  candidate  for 
Vice-President  was  John  C.  Breckinridge,  the  most  pop- 
ular citizen  of  Kentucky,  only  received  a  majority  of 
6,118  over  Millard  Fillmore,  the  American  party  candi- 
date ;  the  vote  standing,  Buchanan  and  Breckinridge, 
69,509,  Fillmore  and  Donelson,  63,391. 


220  KENTUCKY. 

The  speculative  era  from  1854  to  1857,  which  was 
general  throughout  the  United  States,  had  led  to  a  con- 
siderable but  hardly  reprehensible  enlargement  of  the 
Kentucky  banking  system.  When  the  crisis  of  1857 
came  upon  the  country,  the  circulation  of  these  banks 
was  very  much  extended,  and  several  newly  chartered 
institutions  went  to  the  ground,  but  the  old,  well  estab- 
lished banking  houses  of  the  Commonwealth,  on  which 
the  business  of  the  community  depended  for  support, 
weathered  the  storm.  In  a  few  months  they  called  in 
one  half  of  their  paper,  and  the  remainder  of  their  notes 
became  the  standard  for  the  circulation  of  the  Ohio 
Valley.  They  maintained  specie  payments  through  the 
whole  of  this  severe  financial  storm.  The  good  credit 
thus  secured  by  these  banks  was  of  great  profit  to  them. 
It  made  their  notes  so  popular  that  in  1859  their  cir- 
culation amounted  to  over  $14,000,000,  being  an  in- 
crease of  five  millions  of  dollars  within  a  year. 

Thus  we  see  that  this  population  had  at  last  acquired 
that  portion  of  the  financial  art  which  more  than  any 
other  measures  the  sagacity  and  fidelity  of  a  people  in 
business  affairs.  When  we  remember  that  these  bank- 
ing establishments  were,  in  the  main,  in  the  control  of 
men  bred  on  the  soil  who  were  separated  from  the  busi- 
ness traditions  of  the  world,  who  had  developed  their 
methods  out  of  their  own  experience,  it  gives  Kentucky 
merchants  a  good  claim  for  eminent  capacity  in  this  dif- 
ficult task  of  dealing  with  the  monetary  problems  of 
society.  This  claim  was  yet  further  established,  as  we 
shall  afterwards  see,  by  the  management  of  these  banks 
in  the  serious  difficulties  that  beset  them  at  the  outset 
of  the  Civil  War. 

As  we  must  shortly  pass  to  the  consideration  of  the 


TEE  MEXICAN  WAR    TO   THE  REBELLION.    221 

events  that  immediately  preceded  the  Civil  War  which 
made  a  new  era  in  Kentucky  history,  it  will  be  well  to 
make  a  brief  survey  of  the  political  and  social  coudi« 
tions  of  the  Commonwealth  iu  the  decade  of  1850-60. 
So  far  the  life  of  Kentucky  had  been  an  indigenous 
growth,  a  development  from  its  own  conditions  singu- 
larly uninfluenced  by  any  external  forces.  With  only 
the  germs  of  a  society  sown  on  this  ground,  there  had 
sprung  into  existence  a  powerful  Commonwealth,  that 
now,  at  the  end  of  eighty  years  of  time,  felt  strong 
enough  to  stand  alone  in  the  struggles  that  were  soon  to 
rage  about  her.  No  other  State  in  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley —  hardly  any  of  the  original  Southern  States  —  had 
pursued  its  course  with  so  little  influence  from  exter- 
nal conditions.  There  had  been  relatively  little  con- 
tributions of  population  from  other  States,  except  from 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland, 
and  but  a  small  immigration  from  European  countries 
since  1800.  This  made  an  indigenous  development  not 
only  possible,  but  necessary. 

From  1774  to  1860,  eighty-five  years  had  elapsed. 
This  period  measures  the  whole  course  of  Kentucky 
history,  from  the  first  settlement  at  Harrodsburg  to  the 
beginning  of  the  great  tragedy  of  the  Civil  War.  As 
before  recounted,  the  original  settlement  and  the  subse- 
quent increase  of  the  Kentucky  population  were  almost 
entirely  drawn  from  the  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and 
Maryland  colonies  ;  at  least  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the 
population  was  from  these  districts.  Probably  more 
than  half  of  this  blood  was  of  Scotch  and  North  Eng- 
lish extraction,  practically  the  whole  of  it  was  of  British 
stock.  The  larger  part  of  it  was  from  the  frontier 
region  of  Virginia,  where  the  people  had  never  had 
much  to  do  with  slavery. 


222  KENTUCKY. 

The  total  number  of  these  white  settlers  who  entered 
Kentucky  in  the  first  eighty-five  years  cannot  be  deter- 
mined with  any  approach  to  accuracy,  but  from  a  care- 
ful consideration  of  the  imperfect  statistics  that  are 
available,  it  seems  reasonable  to  estimate  the  whole 
number  of  white  immigrants  at  not  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  (it  was  probably  somewhat 
less),  while  the  slave  population  that  was  brought  into 
the  State  probably  did  not  amount  to  one  third  this 
number.  In  1860  the  white  population  amounted  to 
919,484,  and  the  slave  population  to  225,483.  The 
free  black  population  to  10,684.  Of  the  white  popula- 
tion at  this  census  59,799  were  born  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  United  States.  This  element  of  foreign  folk  was 
in  the  main  a  very  recent  addition  to  the  State ;  it  was 
mainly  due  to  the  sudden  development  of  manufactur- 
ing interests  along  the  Ohio  border,  principally  in  the 
towns  of  Louisville,  Covington,  and  Newport,  and  to 
certain  new  settlements  of  agriculturist  Germans  in  the 
counties  forming  the  northern  border  of  the  State.1 
The  foreign  born  people  had  not  yet  become  to  any 
degree  mingled  with  the  native  people  either  in  the 
industries  or  in  blood. 

Before  we  can  estimate  the  fecundity  of  this  popula- 
tion we  must  note  the  fact  that  from  1820  or  thereabouts 
down  to  1860  and  later,  there  was  a  very  great  tide  of 
emigration  from  Kentucky  to  the  States  that  were 
settled  in  the  other  portions  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

1  The  region  immediately  along  the  Ohio  River  seems  to  have  an 
especial  attraction  for  German  settlers.  They  began  to  be  an  element 
of  some  importance  in  the  population  of  this  region  about  1850.  The 
attractions  of  this  region  above  other  parts  of  the  State  seem  to  have 
been  in  the  facts  that  the  negroes  were  few  in  number,  and  the  land 
cheap  and  suitable  for  the  growth  of  the  grape. 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR    TO    THE  REBELLION.     223 

The  southern  parts  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  re- 
ceived a  large  part  of  their  blood  from  Kentucky.  Mis* 
souri  was  so  far  a  Kentucky  settlement  that  it  may 
be  claimed  as  a  child  of  the  Commonwealth.  Tennes- 
see, Arkansas,  Mississippi,  and  Texas  also  received  a 
large  share  of  the  Kentucky  emigrants.  The  imperfect 
nature  of  the  earlier  statistics  of  the  United  States  cen- 
sus makes  it  impossible  to  determine  with  any  accuracy 
the  number  of  persons  of  Kentucky  blood  who  were  in 
18 GO  resident  in  other  States,  but  the  data  given  in  the 
Appendix  make  it  tolerably  clear  that  the  total  contri- 
bution of  Kentucky  to  the  white  population  of  the  other 
States  amounted  in  1860  to  at  least  one  million  souls. 
The  increase  in  the  black  population  was  probably 
rather  less  than  that  of  the  white,  but  there  is  no  data 
for  its  computation. 

If  this  estimate  is  correct  the  fecundity  of  the  Ken- 
tucky population  in  the  first  eighty  years  of  its  life 
exceeds  that  which  is  recorded  for  any  other  region  in 
the  world.  There  are  several  reasons  which  may  ac- 
count for  this  rapid  multiplication  of  this  people.  In 
the  first  place  the  original  settlers  of  Kentucky  were  of 
vigorous  constitution ;  they  were  not  brought  upon  the 
soil  by  any  solicitations  whatever,  nor  were  they  forced 
into  immigration  by  the  need  of  subsistence.  Access 
to  the  country  was  difficult,  and  for  some  decades  the 
region  was  exposed  to  clangers  from  which  all  weak- 
bodied  men  would  shrink.  The  employment  of  the 
early  population  was  principally  in  agriculture,  upon  a 
soil  that  gave  very  free  returns.  There  was  plenty  of 
unoccupied  land  for  the  rising  generations,  so  there  were 
no  considerations  of  a  prudential  nature  to  restrain  the 
increase  of  population.     For  a  long  time  children  were 


224  KENTUCKY. 

a  source  of  advantage  to  the  land-tiller,  and  apart  from 
pecuniary  gain  there  was  a  curious  patriarchal  pride  in  a 
plenteous  offspring.  The  climate  proved  exceedingly 
healthy.  There  were  no  low  grade  malarial  fevers  to 
enfeeble  the  body,  and  the  principal  disease  of  the  early 
days,  a  high  grade  bilious  fever,  though  rather  deadly, 
did  not  impoverish  the  life  as  the  malarial  troubles  of 
other  regions  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  have  done.  The 
syphilitic  poison  does  not  seem  to  have  been  common 
among  the  people,  and  its  attendant,  consumption,  was 
less  prevalent  than  in  most  other  countries.  Thus  the 
first  population  of  Kentucky  was  from  the  purest  spring 
that  ever  fertilized  a  country,  and  there  was  little  to 
defile  its  waters.  The  principal  evils  that  beset  the  pop- 
ulation were  two  :  first,  the  excessive  use  of  tobacco 
and  alcohol,  which  doubtless  did  something  to  lower  the 
vitality  of  the  population ;  second,  the  extremely  defec- 
tive system  of  education,  which  left  the  people  essen- 
tially without  the  means  of  getting  a  training  propor- 
tionate to  their  natural  abilities. 

The  institution  of  slavery  tended  to  keep  the  indus- 
trial and  the  related  social  development  confined  within 
narrow  lines.  At  the  beginning  of  the  century  the 
State  had  an  industrial  spirit  that  was  fit  to  compare 
with  that  of  New  England  and  the  other  northern  free 
States.  Many  of  the  arts  that  were  exercised  by  the 
whites  took  on  a  rapid  advance,  but  the  negro  is  not 
by  nature  a  good  general  citizen,  nor  could  he  be  ex- 
pected to  develop  his  cajiacities  in  the  state  of  slavery. 
Gradually  manual  labor,  except  in  agriculture,  became 
in  a  way  discreditable  and  distasteful  to  the  mastering 
race.  The  mechanical  industries,  except  those  of  the 
simpler  domestic  sort,  were  generally  abandoned  even 


THE  MEXICAN    WAR   TO   TIIE  REBELLION.     225 

before  northern  and  eastern  competition  came  in,  or 
were  transferred  to  the  northern  border  of  the  State, 
where  they  were  carried  on  by  foreign  white  labor,  and 
were  uo  important  part  of  the  life  of  the  State.  Grad- 
ually the  occupation  of  men  became  more  and  more 
limited  to  agriculture.  The  census  returns  show  a  con- 
siderable list  of  factories,  but  they  were  principally  of 
the  domestic  sort,  the  manufacture  of  whiskey,  of  home- 
spun cloth,  tobacco,  etc.,  employing  relatively  little  cap- 
ital, and  not  giving  much  diversity  of  employment  to 
the  whites.  This  want  of  manufacturing  life  was  by  no 
means  an  unmitigated  evil,  for  it  kept  the  people  in 
more  wholesome  occupation ;  but  it  served  to  restrain 
the  growth  of  wealth,  on  which  the  progress  of  educa- 
tion and  the  development  of  capital  much  depends. 

The  development  of  slavery  was  also  marked  by  the 
progressive  separation  of  society  into  a  richer  and  a 
poorer  class,  though,  from  the  failure  of  the  slave  ele- 
ment to  increase  with  the  rapidity  normal  in  the  more 
Southern  States,  the  effect  was  not  as  great  as  in  these 
districts.  The  middle  class  of  farmers  ia  Kentucky,  — 
those  who  though  fairly  well  to  do  were  not  slave-own- 
ers, —  always  remained  a  very  strong,  in  fact  a  con- 
trolling, element  in  the  Kentucky  population.  Still, 
men  who  were  hand-laborers  even  on  their  own  soil  al- 
ways felt  that  they  occupied  another  caste  than  those 
who  owned  slaves.  Short  of  a  great  difference  of  race, 
there  is  no  basis  of  social  distinction  that  man  has  in- 
vented which  is  so  trenchant  as  that  which  separates 
the  slave-owner  from  the  non  slave-owner.  However 
uniform  the  laws,  social  prejudices  are  sure  to  be  en- 
gendered by  such  a  difference  in  estate.  The  greater 
part  of  the  tide  of  strong  life  that  went  from  Kentucky 
15 


226  KENTUCKY. 

to  other  States  in  the  four  decades  that  preceded  the 
Civil  War  was  from  this  yeoman  class,  —  the  reddest,  if 
not  the  bluest,  blood  of  the  State. 

Despite  these  hindrances  to  social  development,  the 
commercial  advance  of  Kentucky  in  the  first  eighty 
years  of  her  history  was  marvelously  great,  especially 
as  it  was  accomplished  practically  without  the  aid  of 
auy  foreign  capital  whatever.  This  absence  of  immi- 
grant capital  in  Kentucky  in  the  first  sixty  or  eighty 
years  of  its  history  is  something  that  well  deserves  to 
be  considered  in  measuring  the  development  of  the 
State.  Until  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  there  was 
scarcely  an  improvement  in  the  Commonwealth  that  was 
not  the  result  of  the  capital  won  by  the  people.  The 
extracts  from  the  United  States  census,  given  in  the 
Appendix,  show  some  of  the  more  important  features 
of  this  growth.  An  area  of  at  least  eighteen  thousand 
square  miles  had  been  cleared  of  its  forests  and  brought 
under  plough  tillage ;  every  portion  of  the  more  fertile 
districts  had  been  penetrated  by  turnpike  roads,  by  rail- 
ways, or  made  approachable  by  artificial  navigation  in 
the  rivers.  In  connection  with  this  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  the  expenditure  of  labor  required  to  bring  an 
acre  of  Kentucky  land  under  tillage  is  many  times  as 
great  as  that  required  to  subjugate  prairie  land.  The 
mere  felling  of  the  forest  and  grubbing  of  the  roots  re- 
quire at  least  twenty  days'  labor  to  the  acre  of  ground. 

It  requires  a  vivid  imagination,  or  some  personal  ex- 
perience, to  conceive  of  the  enormous  amount  of  phys- 
ical labor  involved  in  the  bringing  of  forest  land  into  a 
shape  for  the  use  of  civilized  man.  In  all  the  Northern 
States  the  work  of  subjugation  and  construction,  which 
is  necessary  on  new  ground,  was  in  good  part  accom- 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR   TO  THE  REBELLION.     227 

plished  by  the  aid  of  capital  that  was  brought  iuto  the 
country  in  its  settlement.  The  first  settlers  in  the  North- 
west generally  brought  a  considerable  amount  of  wealth 
with  them,  and  they  were  followed  quickly  by  capital- 
ists glad  to  take  advantage  of  the  new  opportunities  that 
are  offered  for  the  investment  of  money  in  a  new  State. 
This  hastened  the  new  States  past  the  frontier,  or  pio- 
neer, condition  with  extreme  rapidity.  None  of  these 
outside  aids  were  offered  to  Kentucky.  The  first  set- 
tlers had  little  capital  beyond  the  price  of  their  lands 
and  the  few  household  effects  that  could  be  packed  on 
horses  or  wagoned  over  the  mountains.  All  their  wealth 
they  had  to  win  from  the  soil  and  from  their  little  fac- 
tories. 

Two  circumstances  greatly  helped  this  people  to  es- 
tablish the  foundation  of  their  wealth.  The  settlements 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  afforded,  in  a  very  early 
day,  a  considerable  market  for  certain  products  of  the 
soil,  especially  for  tobacco.  This  plant,  which  had  given 
a  basis  for  the  early  commerce  of  Virginia,  helped  in 
turn  the  development  of  Kentucky.  As  early  as  1790 
there  was  a  considerable  shipment  of  this  article.  Gen- 
eral Wilkinson,  whose  last  shipments  were  in  1790,  re- 
ceived, as  was  found  in  his  court-martial,  as  much  as 
$80,000  for  a  small  part  of  his  tobacco  alone  from  the 
Spanish  agents,  and  he  was  only  the  pioneer  in  this 
business,  which  afterwards  grew  to  be  a  great  commerce 
even  before  the  cession  of  the  Louisiana  Territory  to 
the  United  States. 

This  source  of  traffic  was  rapidly  supplemented  by 
the  use  of  Kentucky  as  a  basis  from  which  the  settle- 
ment and  supply  of  the  other  Western  States  went  on. 


228  KENTUCKY. 

First  the  Virginian  government,  and  afterwards,  on  a 
far  larger  scale,  the  United  States  government,  were 
purchasers  of  the  products  of  this  region  to  be  used  in 
their  campaigns.  When,  after  the  War  of  1812,  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  began  rapidly  to  be  settled, 
Kentucky  was  the  natural  depot  whence  came  for  a  time 
not  only  the  greater  part  of  the  settlers,  but  a  large  part 
of  the  materials,  necessary  for  the  starting  of  new  set- 
tlements. This  stimulus  to  trade  made  it  easy  to  make 
money  from  agriculture,  especially  when  that  agricul- 
ture rested  on  a  soil  of  admirable  fertility  and  fair  en- 
durance as  to  tillage.  Unfortunately  it  led  to  the  rapid 
wasting  of  the  soil,  especially  in  the  tobacco  husbandry. 
This  crop  is  a  very  rapid  exhauster  of  the  fields  where 
it  is  cultivated,  and  with  a  husbandry  made  reckless  by 
large  profits  and  cheap  land,  a  considerable  part  of  the 
soil  was  impoverished  and  left  in  a  deplorable  condition. 
Fortunately  the  Kentucky  soils  are  easily  restored  to 
fertility  by  fallow  and  skillful  tillage  ;  excepting  some 
hundred  thousand  acres  where  the  earth  was  actually 
washed  away,  it  is  already  renewed  or  easily  recovera- 
ble to  its  primitive  fertility.  > 
In  1860  Kentuckians  had  already  won  nearly  one  half 
of  the  State's  surface  to  the  plough.  The  remainder  was 
still  in  forests.  At  no  time  had  there  been  any  pressure 
for  means  of  subsistence  upon  the  people.  The  soils  of 
the  first  quality  were  now  actively  under  tillage  or  in 
grass.  Nearly  one  third  of  the  State  was  still  covered 
with  original  forests,  rich  in  the  best  timbers,  and  the 
mineral  wealth  of  the  State  was  essentially  untouched. 
The  preliminary  geological  survey  of  Dr.  David  Dale 
Owen  had  shown,  in  its  four  volumes  of  reports,  that 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR   TO   THE  REBELLION.     229 

this  country  was  extraordinarily  rich  in  coal  beds  and 
iron  ore  deposits,  but  the  State  in  the  main  drew  its  sup- 
ply of  timber,  coal,  and  iron  from  beyond  its  borders. 
All  its  principal  industries  were  agricultural,  and  its  ex- 
ports were  raw  products  and  men,  —  exports,  as  has 
been  well  remarked,  that  naturally  go  out  together. 

Its  growth  of  population  was  now,  in  the  ninth  dec- 
ade of  its  existence,  relatively  slow,  not  that  the  people 
were  less  fecund  than  of  old,  but  the  trifling  incoming 
of  settlers  along  its  northern  borders  did  not  in  any  de- 
gree replace  the  constant  westward  setting  tide  of  emi- 
gration. Slavery  no  longer  profitable,  already  in  fact 
on  its  wane,  condemned  by  its  more  intelligent  people 
as  a  source  of  serious  evils,  still  served  to  deter  immi- 
gration and  to  stimulate  the  exodus  of  the  yeoman 
class. 

Unhappy  as  the  Civil  War  was  in  its  immediate  effects, 
it  undoubtedly  made  an  end  of  conditions  that  were 
sapping  the  strength  of  the  Commonwealth.  Another 
twenty  years  of  wrangle  over  the  slavery  question,  and 
of  consequent  emigration  of  the  yeoman  class,  would 
have  brought  about  a  total  arrest  of  its  development 
and  still  further  reduction  of  its  manly  strength.  It 
had  to  pay  heavily  for  the  change  of  conditions,  but 
dear  as  was  the  price,  the  new  life  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  the  best  future  of  its  people.  The  State  was, 
by  its  conditions,  unfit  to  profit  by  the  presence  of  slav- 
ery. That  institution,  no  longer  of  economic  value,  was 
dying  apace,  still  its  presence  in  name  was  enough  to 
keep  down  growth.  Kentucky  was  about  to  fall  be- 
tween the  two  forms  of  life,  when  the  war,  and  the  de- 
struction of  slavery  which  it  entailed,  opened  a  new 
future  to  its  people.     Although  the  separation  from  its 


230  KENTUCKY. 

old  conditions  was  only  secured  by  a  tremendous  con- 
flict that  gave  its  whole  manly  strength  to  the  work  of 
war,  and  sent  the  best  life  of  a  generation  to  the  grave, 
it  was  a  less  evil  than  the  decay  that  now  was  bear- 
ing her  down. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR. 

For  ten  years  before  the  actual  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War  the  possibility  of  its  coming  was  ever  in  the  miuds 
of  the  people.  Their  long  training  iu  the  most  practi- 
cal politics,  that  which  comes  with  the  making  of  a 
Commonwealth,  had  served  to  bring  out  their  sense  of 
political  dangers,  to  give  them  a  good  degree  of  fore- 
sight in  matters  that  concern  the  State.  There  was  a 
general  desire  to  do  something  with  slavery,  but  an 
equally  general  sense  of  the  enormous  difficulties  of  the 
problem.  Nothing  was  done,  but  it  is  something  to 
have  a  whole  people  thinking  of  a  problem. 

In  1850  the  State  Emancipation  Convention  at  Frank- 
fort demanded  that  the  new  constitution  should  give  the 
legislature  complete  power  to  perfect  a  system  of  grad- 
ual emancipation  of  slaves.  In  the  same  year  the  legis- 
lature provided  for  the  placing  of  a  block  of  Kentucky 
marble  in  the  Washington  monument,  bearing  the  in- 
scription that  "  Under  the  auspices  of  Heaven  and  the 
precepts  of  Washington  Kentucky  will  be  the  last  to 
give  up  the  Union."  These  two  selected  incidents  will 
serve  to  mark  the  beginning  of  the  conflict  and  the  mo- 
tives of  the  people  in  reference  to  it. 

The  elections  of  1859,  following  on  the  great  intensi- 
fication of  the  debate  between  the  abolitionists  and  the. 
pro-slavery  party,  gave  the  State  to  the  Democrats  by 


232  KENTUCKY. 

a  majority  of  8,904.  It  should  not,  however,  be  con- 
cluded that  this  by  any  means  represented  a  majority 
for  the  "  Southern  Rights "  party.  A  large,  perhaps 
even  the  greater  part  of  the  Democrats  represented 
men  who  were  very  strongly  opposed  to  the  idea  of 
separation,  but  were  desirous  of  resisting,  by  all  con- 
stitutional ways,  the  motives  of  those  who  desired  to 
abolish  slavery  by  any  action  coming  from  beyond  the 
State.  They  were  State  rights  people,  and  often  enough 
hostile  to  slavery  in  their  sober  judgment ;  but  as  a 
class  they  were  not  willing  to  go  to  the  point  of  sepa- 
rating from  the  Union  to  advance  their  State  rights 
politics. 

In  a  certain  sense  the  Democratic  party  was  now  the 
conservative  party  of  the  Commonwealth.  It  was  the 
party  that  desired  to  maintain  the  existiug  state  of  in- 
stitutions against  a  faction  that  was  decidedly,  though 
in  a  conservative  way,  revolutionary  in  its  tendencies, 
in  that  it  was  willing  to  take  some  active  measures  con- 
cerning slavery.  We  may  also  notice  that  in  this  elec- 
tion of  1859  the  same  number  of  congressmen  were 
chosen  by  each  party.  This  indicates  an  equal  division 
in  the  politics  of  the  Com  won  wealth  that  deserves  espe- 
cial notice.  The  Democratic  majority  came  mainly 
from  the  Blue  Grass  or  wealthier  districts  of  Kentucky  ; 
the  counties  on  the  poorer  soil,  where  the  slave  interest 
was  small  or  non-existing,  retained  their  resolutely  hos- 
tile attitude  to  the  leadership  of  the  slave  power.  This, 
the  first  definite  decision  on  the  slavery  question,  shows 
in  a  remarkable  way  an  influence  of  the  soil  on  politics. 
The  dwellers  on  the  limestone  formations,  where  the 
'soil  was  rich,  gave  heavy  pro-slavery  majorities,  while 
those  living  on  the  poorer  sandstone  soils  were  gen- 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR.        233 

erally  anti-slavery  iu  their  position.  This  geological 
distribution  of  politics  was  by  no  means  peculiar  to 
Kentucky  :  it  was  common  throughout  the  South. 

In  the  selection  of  Beriah  Magoffin  for  governor,  the 
Democratic  party  gave  the  executive  office  of  the  State 
into  the  hands  of  a  man  who,  though  an  honorable  citi- 
zen and  one  desirous  of  doing  his  whole  duty,  was  not 
by  nature  or  training  well  fitted  to  manage  a  govern- 
ment in  the  grave  trouble  that  was  coming  upon  it. 
Neither  in  politics,  nor  in  any  other  line  of  activity, 
had  he  received  the  education  which  his  difficult  posi- 
tion required.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  he  would 
have  made  a  good,  faithful,  and  efficient  governor,  but 
in  the  terrible  trials  that  were  iu  store  for  him  he  broke 
down  altogether. 

This  flection  gave  the  Democratic  party  a  large  ma- 
jority in  both  houses  of  the  legislature.  The  assembly 
elected  John  C.  Breckinridge,  then  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  as  senator,  by  a  vote  of  eighty-one  to 
fifty-two  for  the  opposition  candidate.  This  is  a  fair 
measure  of  their  majority.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the 
Democratic  or  Southern  Rights  party  had  the  fortune 
of  the  State  given  in  their  hands  by  the  last  election 
preceding  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  Meu  of  their 
choice  had  the  future  destinies  of  the  State  in  their 
keeping.  They  had  all  the  advantage  of  position  in 
the  struggle  that  was  to  come.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  already  the  greater  part  of  the  leaders  of  that 
party  were  latently  inclined  to  secession  in  the  event  of 
Lincoln's  election,  though  their  motives  only  became 
gradually  known  to  the  people,  or  even  to  themselves. 
Their  designs  became  manifest,  not  by  any  proclama- 
tion of  their  views,  for  it  seems  certain  that  as  yet  there 


234  KENTUCKY. 

was  no  distinct  design  of  separation,  but  from  the  gen- 
eral course  of  their  speech  and  action.  But  the  fact 
that  their  cause  was  not  approved  by  the  people  was 
at  once  plainly  shown. 

In  the  August  election  of  1860,  the  fact  that  the  peo- 
ple were  drifting  away  from  the  leaders  who  held  the 
State  government  was  marked  by  the  election  of  the 
Union  candidate  for  clerk  of  the  appellate  court  by  a 
plurality  of  about  twenty -four  thousand  over  the  Breck- 
inridge or  secession  candidate.  The  vote  stood :  Leslie 
Combs,  Unconditional  Union,  68,165  ;  Clinton  McCarty, 
Breckinridge  Democrat,  44,942  ;  and  R.  R.  Boiling, 
Union  Democrat,  10,971,  —  making  the  anti-Breckin- 
ridge  vote  nearly  two  to  one  that  which  his  party  polled.1 
In  the  presidential  election  of  the  following  November, 
Bell  and  Everett  (Compromise  Union)  received  .66,016  ; 
Breckinridge  and  Lane,  52,836 ;  Douglas  and  Johnson, 
24,644 ;  Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  1,366.  Counting  the  votes 
opposed  to  Breckinridge  as  for  the  Union,  we  have  a 
majority  of  39,184  against  secession  in  a  total  vote  of 
145,862.2  Comparing  this  vote  with  that  of  the  elec- 
tions of  the  preceding  year,  when  Magoffin,  the  Dem- 
ocratic candidate  for  governor,  had  a  majority  of  8,904, 
we  see  clearly  how  rapidly  the  people  of  Kentucky 
were  arraying  themselves  against  secession  as  the  na- 
ture of  that  project  began  to  be  unfolded.  It  would, 
however,  not  be  proper  to  represent  this  feeling  of 
the  conservative  party  as  an  unqualified  approval  of 
the  project  of  remaining  in  the  Union  come  what 
would.  The  state  of  mind  of  the  masses  of  the  people 
at  this  time  is  hard  to  make  clear  to  those  who,  by 
geographical  position,  were  so  fortunate  as  to  have  their 
i  See  Collins,  i.  84.  2  Collins,  i.  84. 


THE   BEGINNING  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR.        235 

minds  carried  into  a  perfectly  definite  position  in  this 
difficult  question  of  national  politics.  The  citizen  of 
Massachusetts  or  the  citizen  of  South  Carolina,  sur- 
rounded by  institutions  and  brought  up  in  associations 
which  entirely  committed  him  to  a  course  of  action  that 
was  unquestionably  the  will  of  his  people,  had  only  to 
go  with  the  tide  that  bore  him  smoothly  along.  "What- 
ever the  issue  might  be,  unity  within  his  sphere  of  action 
was  easily  attained.  Not  so  with  the  citizen  of  Ken- 
tucky ;  the  Commonwealth  was  pledged  by  a  generation 
of  conservatism  to  her  line  of  conduct  set  forth  in  the 
inscription  she  had  placed  in  the  monument  to  Wash- 
ington.1 Her  people,  almost  without  exception,  shrank 
from  any  dissolution  of  the  Union  with  a  real  horror. 
At  the  same  time,  if  the  Union  should  go  utterly  to 
pieces,  if  this  fine  fleet  of  sister  ships  was  to  be  cast 
away  in  the  great  storm  that  was  rising,  what  should 
she  do  to  save  her  own  staunch  ship  from  the  general 
peril  ?  The  ties  of  blood  and  of  institutions  bound  the 
Commonwealth  with  the  Southern  States,  every  one  of 
which  was  drifting  away  from  the  Union.  The  pledge 
of  political  faith  tied  her  to  the  fragment  of  the  Union 
with  which  she  had  little  social  sympathy,  and  in  which 
she  could  not  expect  much  comfort.  Surely  never  was 
a  people  so  unhappily  placed. 

All  the  days  and  nights  for  the  dismal  year  that  pre- 
ceded the  war  the  harrowing  question  of  their  action 
was  upon  men's  minds ;  by  every  fireside  and  in  endless 
meetings  the  conflict  of  opposed  minds  went  on.  Men, 
women,  and  children  thought  and  talked  of  nothing 
else.  The  whole  life  of  the  citizens  went  into  the  mat- 
ter as  never  before  among  any  people.  In  all  the  other 
1  Vide  supra,  p.  231. 


236  KENTUCKY. 

stages  of  our  race  conflicts  there  has  been  a  lower  por- 
tion of  the  populace  which  gave  little  thought  to  polit- 
ical questions.  They  have  acted,  when  the  time  came, 
in  the  way  their  leaders  led  them ;  but  in  1860  no  white 
man's  cabin  in  Kentucky  was  so  remote  in  the  wilder- 
ness that  grave  care  did  not  sit  by  its  fireside  during  all 
this  year. 

The  intellectual  and  political  leadership  of  the  Com- 
monwealth was  mainly  in  the  hands  of  men  who,  though 
often  unconsciously,  were  steadily  acting  in  a  way  to 
lead  the  people  toward  secession.  Still  there  was  in  the 
crisis  a  host  of  strong,  clear-headed  men  whose  voices 
were  heard  in  every  gathering,  who  urged  that  political 
faith  could  not  be  abandoned  for  sympathies,  and  that 
the  State  must  stand  by  her  deliberate  pledges  to  the 
Union.  Gradually,  out  of  the  endless  praying  and  de- 
bating, there  came  a  curious  state  of  mind,  which  soon 
took  shape  in  action. 

This  general  opinion  of  Kentucky  was  that  the  war 
was  an  unnatural  strife  which  would  necessarily  result 
in  the  certain,  though,  as  they  hoped,  temporary  disrup- 
tion of  the  Union  they  all  loved  so  well.  They  did  not 
believe  that  the  States  had  a  moral  right  to  secede ;  on 
the  other  hand,  they  did  not  believe  that  the  Federal 
government  had  either  the  constitutional  right  or  the 
power  and  energy  to  coerce  them  back  into  the  Union. 
The  undoubted  preference  of  the  Kentucky  people  was 
that  the  Southern  States  should  be  allowed  to  go  in 
peace.  She  herself  would  stay  where  her  pledges  kept 
her,  and,  after  a  sorrowful  experience,  she  believed  that 
her  erring  sisters  would  sue  for  readmission  to  the 
Union.  If  the  Federal  government  resolved  to  take 
what  seemed  to  them  the  unconstitutional  process  of 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR.        237 

arms  to  compel  the  States  to  return  into  the  Union, 
Kentucky  would  have  no  part  in  the  process.  She 
would  stand  alone,  while  North  and  South  both  left  the 
paths  of  duty  under  the  constitution,  bidding  them  to 
keep  their  battles  away  from  her  soil.  The  position 
was  a  logical  one,  and  has  a  certain  grandeur  in  its  con- 
ception. The  people  clearly  believed  that  both  sides 
had  left  the  paths  of  the  constitution,  that  the  war  was 
essentially  unconstitutional,  and  that  in  time  they  would 
have  to  return  to  their  old  positions.  They  thought  that 
Kentucky,  by  well-timed  mediation,  could  soon  persuade 
the  warring  States  to  peace. 

In  the  wild  talk  of  the  time  this  neutrality  project  of 
the  Kentucky  people  was  denounced  as  cowardly.  There 
are  States  in  the  world  which  it  would  be  proper  to  de- 
fend from  this  accusation.  With  Kentucky  this  atti- 
tude was  a  sorrowful  and  noble,  though  it  must  be  con- 
fessed in  the  after  light  of  events  a  somewhat  Quixotic, 
position.  But  in  1860  and  the  beginning  of  1861,  it 
seemed  to  be  a  very  rational  standing  ground.  If  war 
came  into  Kentucky  it  would  be  internecine  and  frat- 
ricidal. The  people  did  not  so  much  fear  war  for  the 
dangers  and  losses  it  would  bring,  but  they  did  look 
with  terror  on  the  fight  between  friends  and  brothers. 
They  were  justified  in  their  own  minds,  and  will  be 
justified  in  the  opinions  of  reasonable  people,  in  doing 
anything  that  honorable  men  could  do  that  promised  to 
avert  this  evil. 

At  this  time  the  State  was  rich  in  men  and  means  of 
war.  With  fifty  thousand  soldiers  of  its  own  and  forty 
thousand  square  miles  of  territory  that  lay  between 
North  and  South,  and  with  a  willingness  to  take  every 
means   of  conciliation  to  make  an  end  of  the   conflict, 


238  KENTUCKY. 

they  could  soon  hope  to  still  the  sea  of  troubles.  Look- 
ing at  it  from  half  a  lifetime  of  distance,  it  appears  as 
a  very  remarkable  resolution  for  a  people  to  make, 
though  it  will  be  seen  to  be  in  many  ways  the  logical 
result  of  the  history  of  the  people.  The  Kentuckians 
were,  from  the  beginning  of  their  history,  in  many  ways 
a  singularly  separate  State.  The  ancestors  of  the  peo- 
ple won  their  right  to  life  and  property  by  their  own 
hands.  For  two  generations  they  stood  almost  entirely 
apart  in  their  life  and  their  politics,  keeping  always  a 
keen  interest  in  American  affairs,  but  not  wedded  by 
interests  very  closely  to  the  American  system  of  States. 

Gradually  Clay,  Crittenden,  and  other  great  leaders, 
brought  them  to  a  sense  of  pride  in,  and  devotion  to,  the 
Union.  But  the  sense  of  their  place  as  Kentuckians 
was  always  stronger  than  their  sense  of  the  Federal  re- 
lation. It  would  require  a  separate  chapter  to  explain 
the  peculiar  Southern  sense  of  State  rights  and  to  ac- 
count for  its  development.  We  have,  in  a  previous 
chapter,  looked  at  the  outlines  of  this  history ;  as  we 
are  now  to  deal  with  a  problem  in  which  this  motive  is 
again  to  be  in  the  lead  in  the  State  life,  we  should  bring 
it  once  more  before  us,  —  as  clearly  as  it  can  be  done 
in  a  few  words. 

From  the  colonization  of  this  country  until  the  end 
of  the  Revolutionary  War  the  motives  of  political  life 
were  limited.  Within  the  colony  the  adhesion  to  the 
mother  country  grew  steadily  less  and  less  strong,  until 
it  was  too  weak  to  bear  even  trifling  strains  such  as 
gave  birth  to  the  Revolution.  No  theory  of  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution  can  be  made  reasonable  that  does  not 
take  as  its  essential  basis  the  singular  and  hardly  to  be 
explained  sense  of  local   independence  which  was  de- 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR.        239 

veloped  in  the  colonies.  As  separate  States  the  original 
thirteen  colonies  fought  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
whatever  interpretations  may  be  given  to  the  constitu- 
tion, it  was  as  separate  States  that  they  dealt  in  making 
the  final  Federal  compact.  This  separatist  impulse  they 
took  with  them  into  their  life  as  united  States.  What- 
ever motives  of  love  for  the  Federal  Union  have  since 
come  into  existence  are  new  compared  with  the  local 
loyalty  of  early  days.  In  the  Northern  States,  —  mostly 
communities  occupying  smaller  areas,  which  soon  be- 
came united  one  to  another  by  the  strong  bonds  of  com- 
merce, —  this  beloved  sense  of  isolation  and  indepen- 
dence, perhaps  in  the  beginning  less  strong  than  in  the 
Southern  States,  became  gradually  weaker,  and  was  re- 
placed by  a  strong  national  sense.  In  the  South,  where 
the  social  conditions  favored  a  mediaeval  isolation  of 
communities,  and  when  the  interstate  commerce,  and, 
indeed,  commerce  of  any  kind,  was  always  a  small  ele- 
ment in  the  life,  State  rights  never  lost  their  original 
strength.  It  is  a  great  misfortune  that  the  excellent 
political  motive  embodied  in  the  "  State  Rights "  im- 
pulse became  the  tool  of  the  slave  power,  and  the  means 
of  protection  of  that  institution  from  the  natural  forces 
that  menaced  it.  There  is  a  common  notion  that  State 
rights  was  a  device  of  that  power  for  the  maintenance 
of  its  conflict  with  the  rest  of  the  country.  The  mo- 
tive was  a  deeper  and  nobler  one  than  this  theory  would 
make  it.  Its  connection  with  slavery  was  a  mere  acci- 
dent. It  arose  from  that  sense  of  domestic  strength, 
that  admirable  power  of  trusting  to  and  loving  a  com- 
munity that  is  the  best  quality  of  the  race,  —  that  on 
which  alone  a  great  nation  of  freemen  can  firmly  stand. 
When  Kentuckians  declared  for  neutrality  they  acted 


240  KENTUCKY. 

out  the  motives  of  their  history.  Futile  as  the  expe- 
dient proved  to  be,  it  was  singularly  spontaneous  and 
acceptable  at  the  time  it  was  devised.  The  decided 
Union  men  who  desired  to  join  in  arms  with  the  Fed- 
eral government,  and  the  secessionists  who  wished  the 
State  to  go  with  its  southern  kindred  States,  each  wel- 
comed the  movement  as  giving  them  possibilities  of  ac- 
tion that  were  denied  them  at  the  moment.  In  the 
chances  of  the  combat  each  party  could  hope  to  win 
the  result  it  wished  to  obtain. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  course  was  the 
only  one  that  could  have  kept  Kentucky  from  seces- 
sion. If  what  had  been  unhappily  named  a  sovereignty 
convention  had  been  called  in  1861,  if  the  State  had 
been  compelled  to  accept  the  decision  of  a  body  of  men 
who  were  acting  under  the  control  of  no  constitutional 
limitations,  the  sense  of  sympathy  and  of  kinship  with 
the  Southern  States,  such  as  would  easily  grow  up  under 
popular  oratory  in  a  mob,  would  probably  have  precipi- 
tated action.  Virginia,  the  mother  State,  was  as  decid- 
edly Union  in  its  sentiments  as  Kentucky;  yet  it  proved 
easy,  as  soon  as  it  had  departed  from  constitutional 
ways,  so  to  turn  the  sentiment  of  sympathy  that  it 
overwhelmed  the  respect  for  the  organic  law  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  led  the  State  out  of  the  Union. 
The  Legislature  of  Kentucky  caught  this  universal  will 
of  the  citizens  for  neutrality,  and  proceeded  to  shape  its 
action  accordingly. 

Even  after  this  resolution  of  neutrality  had  been  so 
generally  expressed  as  the  will  of  the  Kentucky  people, 
there  were  various  schemes  for  the  solution  of  the  dif- 
ferences between  the  Northern  and  Southern  States. 
All  of  these  efforts  to  stay  a  moral  cyclone  with  a  little 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.        241 

political  oil  are  interesting,  especially  those  known  as 
the  Border  State,  or  Crittenden,  compromises;  they  are 
interesting  as  a  part  of  the  political  history  of  the  times, 
but  it  would  carry  us  too  far  from  the  account  of  the 
local  affairs  to  give  them  more  than  mention  here. 
They  were  all  approved  by  the  people,  who  were  will- 
ing to  take  any  road  to  peace,  and  were  warmly  sec- 
onded by  the  legislature,  but  they  never  got  beyond  the 
state  of  resolutions  ;  they  never  had  a  chance  of  becom- 
ing a  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
where  alone  they  could  have  been  of  any  service.  In 
this  time  of  storm  the  border  people,  on  whom  the  blow 
of  the  war  was  to  fall,  caught  like  drowning  men  at 
every  straw  that  promised  safety. 

On  May  6,  1861,  the  legislature  met  under  a  call  of 
Governor  Magoffin,  and  remained  in  session  until  the 
24-th.  It  should  be  remembered  that  it  was  a  Demo- 
cratic legislature,  and  that  when  elected  it  was  supposed 
to  be  favorable  to  secession.  Brief  as  was  this  session 
—  it  lasted  less  than  a  month  —  it  was  long  enough  to 
determine  the  future  history  of  Kentucky,  perhaps  of 
the  Union,  for  if  Kentucky  had  cast  her  lot  with  the 
rebellion,  it  may  well  be  doubted  if  the  Union  would 
have  been  preserved. 

In  the  rapidly  changing  conditions  of  the  time,  these 
legislators  who  assembled  in  Frankfort  on  the  6th  of 
May  were,  for  a  time,  in  much  confusion  of  mind. 
There  was  a  distinct  division  between  the  decided  Union 
men  and  the  decided  secessionists  ;  but  between  them 
there  was  a  floating  body  which  was  awed  by  the  re- 
solve of  the  people  for  neutrality,  yet  desired  to  obey 
their  impulses  and  to  act  with  the  Southern  States. 
Some  men  elected  as  Union  had  drifted  to  the  other 
16 


242  KENTUCKY. 

side.  At  least  four  of  those  who  were  originally  "  Breck- 
inridge men,"  or  classed  as  "Southern  Rights,"  had 
abandoned  their  leader  after  finding  whereto  he  led 
them.1  In  this  state  of  the  parties  the  Confederate 
element  was  more  hopeful  thau  the  Union  party.  The 
most  that  the  latter  dared  try  to  obtain  in  a  legislature 
so  Southern  in  its  sympathies  was  the  accomplishment 
of  the  neutrality  project.  The  secession  party  desired 
to  defeat  this  measure,  as  the  alternative  would  be,  they 
had  every  reason  to  expect,  what  it  had  been  in  the 
other  States,  namely,  secession. 

The  legislation  of  this  session  began  with  resolutions 
intended  to  define  the  position  of  the  Commonwealth. 
The  first  of  these  referred  to  the  answer  that  Governor 
Magoffin  had  made  to  the  call  of  the  Federal  govern- 
ment for  "  four  regiments  of  militia  for  immediate  ser- 
vice." His  answer  was  that  "  emphatically  Kentucky 
will  furnish  no  troops  for  the  wicked  purpose  of  sub- 
duing her  sister  Southern  States."  2 

The  first  resolution  proposed  was  as  follows  : 3  — 

"  Resolved,  That  we  most  cordially  approve  and  in- 
dorse the  course  of  Governor  Magoffin  in  refusing  to 
conmly  with  the  recent  requisition  of  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment for  troops  to  invade  the  Southern  States." 

On  this  resolution  a  vote  was  offered  to  postpone, 
which  was  lost  by  a  tie  of  forty-five  to  forty-five.  This 
vote  was  never  passed.  On  May  1 6th  the  Committee 
on  Federal  Relations  reported  a  resolution  which  read 
as  follows  :  — 

1  These  men  were  R.  T.  Jacob  and  R.  A.  Burton,  of  the  house;  F. 
Marshall  and  J.  A.  Prall,  of  the  senate. 

2  Collins,  i.  87. 

8  See  speech  of  Colonel  Jacob,  Louisvilk    Commercial,  January  8, 
1882. 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR.        243 

"  Considering  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  coun- 
try, for  which  Kentucky  is  in  no  way  responsible,  and 
looking  to  the  best  means  of  preserving  the  national 
peace  and  securing  the  laws,  liberty,  and  property  of  the 
citizens  of  the  State  ;  therefore 

"  Resolved  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  That  this 
State  and  the  citizens  thereof  should  take  no  part  in 
the  Civil  War  now  being  waged,  except  as  mediators 
and  friends  of  the  belligerent  parties ;  and  that  Ken- 
tucky should  during  the  contest  occupy  the  jiosition  of 
strict  neutrality. 

"  And  your  committee  recommend  the  adoption  of 
the  following  resolution  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  act  of  the  governor  in  refusing 
to  furnish  troops  or  military  force  upon  the  call  of  the 
executive  authority  of  the  United  States,  under  existing 
circumstances,  is  approved." 

The  first  resolution  was  carried  by  sixty-nine  to  twen- 
ty-six, the  second  by  eighty-nine  to  four  votes. 

These  declarations  the  secessionist  members  took  to 
be  in  the  line  for  which  they  were  acting.  They,  there- 
fore, in  the  main  joined  the  neutrality  men  in  voting 
for  them.  The  next  and  third  step  was  away  from  the 
path  they  chose  to  tread,  for  if  taken  it  certainly  made 
immediate  auction  in  favor  of  their  party  impossible,  and 
they  well  saw  that  they  would  not  be  so  strong  when 
they  had  submitted  their  cause  to  the  election  impend- 
ing in  the  August  following.  A  motion  was  made  to 
substitute  for  the  preamble  of  the  preceding  resolution 
the  following  words  :  —  ' 

"  Whereas,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Kentucky  have  asserted  strict  neutrality  to 
be  the  position  desirable  for  the  State  to  occupy  in  the 


244  KENTUCKY. 

present  contest  between  the  Federal  government  and 
the  seceding  States,  therefore  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky  asserts  that  their  po- 
sition will  be  maintained  with  sincerity  and  honor  by 
the  State ;  that  the  parties  engaged  in  the  present  frat- 
ricidal war  should  respect  the  neutrality,  and  know  that 
Kentucky  cannot  with  honor  to  herself  submit  to  armed 
forces  hostile  to  this  neutrality  invading  her  soil  ;  that 
Kentucky  asks  and  will  defend  her  rights  of  friendly 
intercourse  and  trade  with  both  sections,  thereby  de- 
nying and  intending  to  deny  to  the  Federal  government 
and  the  Confederate  States  the  right  or  authority,  by 
force  or  otherwise,  to  take  possession  of  and  hold  the 
property  of  private  corporations  on  any  territory  within 
her  borders  for  any  purpose  or  on  any  pretense  what- 
ever. 

"  That  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  gen- 
eral assembly,  and  approved  by  Governor  Magoffin, 
in  refusing  troops  to  participate  in  this  conflict,  together 
with  a  copy  of  these  resolutions,  be  forwarded  to  the 
executives  of  the  Federal  government  and  the  Confed- 
erate States,  respectfully  requesting  the  proper  author- 
ities in  this  unfortunate  conflict  to  respect  the  neutrality 
of  Kentucky." 

The  previous  question  was  moved  by  the  advocates 
of  neutrality.  The  leader  of  the  secessionists  moved 
to  lay  the  motion  on  the  table.  The  motives  that  led 
the  secessionist  party  to  vote  for  the  milder  resolution 
of  neutrality,  while  they  resisted  this  clear  statement  of 
the  proposed  amendment,  were  about  as  follows.  The 
first  proposition  was  so  general  in  its  terms  that  they 
would  be  left  perfectly  free  to  give  active  support  to 
their  cause ;  some  form  of  neutrality  was  called  for  by 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR.        245 

the  people,  and  this  to  the  secessionists  the  least  offen- 
sive shape  of  that  action  might  serve  to  meet  the  popu- 
lar demand.  The  substitute  meant  that  the  neutrality 
was  to  be  very  definite  in  its  provisions,  and  that  if  it 
were  to  become  the  basis  of  action  of  the  executive  they 
could  not  hope  to  go  farther  with  their  projects  within 
the  State. 

Now  began  the  most  dramatic  incident  in  this  re- 
markable session.  It  was  decided  that  the  main  ques- 
tion should  be  put.  Then  the  motion  to  lay  the  pream- 
ble and  resolution  on  the  table  was  put  and  rejected  by 
forty-eight  to  forty-seven.  In  this  complicated  game 
of  political  fencing,  the  details  of  which  are  not  inter- 
esting, this  was  hailed  by  the  secessionists  as  a  victory ; 
it  appeared  that  one  of  the  Union  men  had  gone  over 
to  their  side. 

The  remainder  of  the  incident  can  best  be  told  in 
the  words  of  Colonel  Jacob,  himself  one  of  the  Union 
men  of  that  legislature.  "The  secessionists,  exultant 
with  the  prospect  and  certainty  of  triumph,  were  un- 
bounded in  their  expression  of  delight.  The  Union 
men,  pale,  despondent,  and  apprehensive  that  all  was 
lost,  were  for  a  moment  overcome  and  staggered  with 
dismay.  Mr.  William  Brown,  I  think,  of  Christian 
County,  one  of  the  staunchest  and  best  Union  men, 
had  apparently  gone  over  to  the  Democrats,  and  given 
them  the  majority.  Having  every  confidence  in  Mr. 
Brown's  integrity,  I  determined  to  know  the  worst.  I 
crossed  over  to  his  seat,  and  said,  '  Brown,  have  you 
deserted  us  ? '  He  replied,  '  No.'  Then  I  said,  '  Why 
did  you  give  that  vote  ?  You  have  scared  us  nearly  to 
death.'  And  I  shall  never  forget  his  reply ;  it  was 
this  :  '  I  wanted  to  give  them  a  high  fall.'     And  I  tell 


246  KENTUCKY. 

you  he  did  it  on  the  next  question,  which  was  taken  on 
the  adoption  of  the  substitute  for  the  preamble,  and  it 
was  decided  in  the  negative,  forty-seven  to  forty-eight, 
Mr.  Brown  renewing  his  connection  with  the  Union 
party,  and  giving  them  one  majority.  The  house  then 
adopted  the  original  preamble  and  resolution." 

This  seems  like  a  trilling  incident,  but  it  did  much  to 
determine  the  fate  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  seces- 
sionists had  seen  victory  in  their  grasp,  they  had  ex- 
ulted in  their  majority,  and  found  that  they  had  been 
played  with  by  their  antagonists.  They  lost  heart  from 
that  vote.  Some  of  them  at  once  left  their  places  for 
the  Confederate  army,  convinced  that  nothing  but  the 
invasion  of  Kentucky  by  an  army  from  the  Southern 
States  would  give  them  mastery.  In  this  they  judged 
well.  The  minds  of  the  people  were  daily  becoming 
more  decided  against  the  secession  movement.  The 
fury  and  haste  with  which  their  sister  Southern  States 
were  leaving  the  Union  did  much  to  turn  the  Kentucky 
people  against  them. 

The  State  was  now  in  a  very  precarious  condition  on 
account  of  the  known  animus  of  the  militia  organization 
called  the  State  Guard.  There  were  fifty-four  com- 
mands of  these  troops,  amounting  in  all  to  about  fifteen 
thousand  men.  They  were  the  only  military  force  in 
the  Commonwealth,  and  were  generally  under  officers 
of  disunion  sentiments.  About  all  the  serviceable  arms 
owned  by  the  State  were  in  their  possession.  The 
legislature  gave  the  control  of  these  troops  into  the 
hands  of  a  military  board,  composed  of  trusted  citizens, 
and  presided  over  by  the  governor.  They  provided  the 
sum  of  $1,000,000  for  the  expense  of  arming  and  dis- 
ciplining the  militia,  $750,000  to  be  expended  for  arms, 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE  CIVIL   WAR.        247 

one  half  to  be  issued  to  the  State  Guard,  the  other  half 
to  the  Home  Guards.  The  State  Guard  was  to  be  at 
once  placed  in  camp  ;  the  Home  Guards  were  to  be  held 
in  reserve.  It  was  provided  that  "  neither  the  arms  nor 
the  militia  were  to  be  used  against  the  government  of 
the  United  States  nor  the  Confederate  States,  unless  in 
the  sole  defense  of  the  State  of  Kentucky."  On  the  day 
of  the  passage  of  this  act  the  governor  appointed  Gen- 
eral Simon  Bolivar  Buckner  Inspector-General  of  the 
State  forces.1  As  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel  these  ap- 
prehensions concerning  the  State  Guard  were  entirely 
justified. 

At  a  special  election  for  congressmen  to  fill  vacan- 
cies, held  in  June,  the  Union  majority  was  54,670,  the 
anti-secession  candidates  being  elected  in  nine  out  of  the 
ten  districts.  On  the  24th  of  June  six  companies  of 
the  State  Guard,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Lloyd 
Tilghman,  were  ordered  to  Hickman  to  secure  that 
quarter  against  the  threatened  invasion  of  the  Confed- 
erate troops.  Colonel  Tilghman  at  once  resigned  his 
command  to  take  a  place  in  the  Confederate  army,  thus 
showing  the  first  clear  evidence  of  the  entire  untrust- 
worthiness  of  this  force. 

The  regular  election  on  the  first  Monday  in  August 
gave  the  first  distinct  expression  of  the  will  of  the  neu- 
trality party;  it  gave  76  Union  to  24  States  rights  or 
secession  votes  in  the  house,  and  27  Union  to  11  States 
rights  in  the  senate.  The  Union  majority  in  the  sen- 
ate would  have  been  larger  but  for  the  fact  that  one 
half  that  body  held  over  from  the  preceding  election.2 

1  Collins,  i.  91. 

-  In  the  Kentucky  senate  the  members  are  elected  for  four  jrears  ; 
one  half  the  number  is  replaced  each  two  years. 


248  KENTUCKY. 

Although  the  neutrality  party  had  now  obtained  full 
control  of  the  State  legislature,  the  impossibility  of  their 
project  was  already  beginning  to  be  apparent.  Thou- 
sands of  the  Confederate  sympathizers  slipped  away 
over  the  border  to  Tennessee  and  Virginia.  In  some 
cases  they  were  organized  into  companies  on  the  soil  of 
Kentucky.  Humphrey  Marshall  had  a  recruiting  camp, 
and  organized  troops  in  Owen  County,  within  thirty 
miles  of  the  State  capital ;  a  camp  of  out-and-out  Union 
men  was  established  under  the  command  of  General 
William  Nelson,  at  Camp  Dick  Robinson,  in  Garrard 
County.  The  extreme  men  of  either  party,  dissatisfied 
with  the  position  of  the  State,  yet  respecting  its  pro- 
claimed position,  were  pouring  in  a  constant  stream  to 
take  service  in  the  regiments  of  other  States. 

In  this  period  of  rapid  change  President  Lincoln 
showed  his  remarkable  discretion  in  avoiding  all  acts 
of  invasion  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  small  United 
States  garrison  at  Newport,  the  only  government  mili- 
tary station  in  Kentucky,  was  retained,  but  neither  re- 
enforced  nor  fortified.  The  force  gathered  at  Camp  Dick 
Robinson,  in  Garrard  County,  was  composed  solely  of 
Kentuckians,  who  claimed  that  they  were  organized  for 
their  own  protection,  and  though  they  were  recognized 
by  the  Federal  authorities  as  Union  soldiers,  their  ac- 
tion did  not  in  strict  terms  constitute  an  invasion  of  the 
State.  They  went  no  farther  against  the  attitude  of 
neutrality  than  Marshall's  action  did.  Several  regi- 
ments of  Kentuckians  were,  however,  enrolled  by  the 
Federal  government  in  camps  in  Indiana  and  Ohio, 
from  among  the  citizens  who  crossed  the  border  to 
enlist.  This,  too,  was  no  transgression  of  the  neutrality 
chosen  by  the  Kentuckians.     It  was  fast  becoming  evi- 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  TEE  CIVIL  WAR.        249 

dent  that  the  greater  part  of  the  able-bodied  citizens  of 
the  State  would  soon  drift  away  into  the  opposing 
armies,  leaving  the  Commonwealth  an  empty  shell,  an 
object  of  contempt  to  both  sides.  There  was  no  chance 
to  guard  the  frontier,  and  so  to  retain  the  citizens  in 
the  State  ;  the  able-bodied  whites,  if  all  were  mustered 
on  the  border,  could  not  suffice  to  guard  the  possible 
lines  of  escape  to  the  North  and  South.  Moreover, 
there  was  no  law  that  could  have  been  used  to  retain 
citizens  within  the  State.  The  periphery  of  the  State 
is  about  fifteen  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  all  its 
adult  white  males  would,  if  constantly  on  watch,  hardly 
make  a  single  line  of  sentries  along  its  extent. 

While  it  thus  became  evident  that  the  position  of 
neutrality  would  have  to  be  abandoned,  a  number  of 
circumstances  now  served  to  turn  the  temper  of  the 
people  more  and  more  towards  a  union  with  the  North. 
A  remark  attributed  to  Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  that 
the  Southern  men  would  only  have  "  to  go  home,  raise 
cotton,  and  make  money,"  leaving  the  war  to  the  border 
States,  was  one  of  the  many  stings  that  turned  the  peo- 
ple from  the  once  cherished  idea  of  neutrality.  More- 
over, the  unanimity  and  apparent  heedlessness  of  the 
Southern  States  in  rushing  into  rebellion  were  irritating 
to  the  Kentuckians,  who  had  planned  a  course  which 
they  expected  would  bring  the  disturbance  to  some 
happy  end.  They  felt  they  had  a  right,  in  this  endeavor, 
to  the  sympathy  and  cooperation  of  the  Southern  States, 
especially  of  their  cousins  in  Tennessee  and  their  broth- 
ers in  the  mother  State  of  Virginia.  It  was  the  belief 
of  the  neutrality  men  that  these  States  had  been  forced 
from  their  position  in  the  Union  by  the  secession  ele- 
ment without  a  proper  appeal   to  the  people  of  those 


250  KENTUCKY. 

States,  and  that  by  their  action  Kentucky  had  been 
deprived  of  her  natural  allies  in  its  effort  to  stem  the 
tide  of  war.  It  was  felt  that  the  Federal  government, 
which  had  a  real  claim  to  Kentucky's  allegiance,  had 
acted  liberally  in  respecting  the  neutrality,  in  form  at 
least ;  while  the  message  of  Davis,  that  he  would  respect 
the  neutrality  of  Kentucky  "so  long  as  the  people  of 
Kentucky  maintain  it  themselves,"  was  a  discourteous 
piece  of  arrogance  to  those  who  were  struggling  for 
peace.  The  tone  of  the  Southern  States  in  assuming 
that  Kentucky  belonged  to  them,  but  was  kept  in  her 
relation  to  the  Union  by  fear,  was  deeply  offensive  to 
the  State  pride. 

In  this  position  of  affairs  the  Confederates  made  the 
first  distinct  trespass  on  the  neutrality  proclamation. 
Major-General  Leonidas  Polk,  a  nephew  of  President 
Polk,  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  then  a  bishop  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  was  commander  of  the  Confederate 
forces  of  Tennessee.  Desiring  to  strengthen  his  hold 
on  the  Mississippi,  he  invaded  Kentucky,  and  took  up  a 
strong  position  on  the  bluffs  that  command  the  stream 
at  Columbus  and  Hickman,  near  the  Tennessee  line. 
This  important  step  was  taken  on  September  3d.  At 
the  same  time  General  Zollicoffer  invaded  the  south- 
eastern corner  of  the  State,  establishing  his  lines  near 
Cumberland  Gap. 

The  first  action  of  the  State,  in  view  of  these  inva- 
sions, an  ominous  act  indeed,  was  a  vote  passed  in  the 
legislature  that  the  United  States  flag  be  hoisted  on  the 
capitol  at  Frankfort.  This  step  was  taken  by  the  house 
of  representatives  by  a  vote  of  77  to  20.  On  the  10th 
a  State  rights  convention  for  Kentucky  was  held  at 
Frankfort ;  they  passed  a  resolution  iu  favor  of  the  dis~ 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.        251 

persiou  of  the  Federal  camps  in  Kentucky,  promising, 
when  that  was  done,  to  assist  in  driving  the  Tennessee 
troops  from  the  State.1 

It  is  maintained  by  many  Confederate  sympathizers 
that  the  violation  of  the  State's  neutrality  came  first 
from  the  Federal  authorities.  They  cite  the  recruiting 
at  Camp  Dick  Robinson  as  evidence  in  proof  of  their 
assertion.  It  is  hardly  worth  while  to  debate  this  ques- 
tion of  precedence,  when  the  action  of  both  sides  was 
so  nearly  simultaneous,  and  onl_v  accomplished  the  in- 
evitable overthrow  of  the  neutrality  of  the  Common- 
wealth ;  still,  after  a  careful  review  of  all  the  records, 
the  present  writer  has  been  driven  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  actual  infringement  of  the  neutrality  proclama- 
tion was  due  to  the  action  of  Polk  and  Zollicoffer,  and 
that  this  simultaneous  invasion  of  the  State  at  points 
some  hundred  miles  apart,  shows  that  the  rupture  of 
Kentucky  neutrality  was  deliberately  planned  by  the 
Confederate  authorities.  Ill  as  it  turned  out  for  their 
cause,  it  gave  them  their  last  chance  of  getting  political 
possession  of  the  State. 

On  the  11th,  after  much  private  deliberation,  the  leg- 
islature, by  a  vote  of  71  to  26  in  the  house,  and  by  25 
to  8  in  the  senate,  resolved  "  That  Governor  Magoffin 
be  instructed  to  inform  those  concerned  that  Kentucky 
expects  the  Confederate  or  Tennessee  troops  to  be  with- 
drawn from  her  soil  unconditionally."  This  resolution 
was  vetoed  by  the  governor,  but  immediately  passed 
over  the  veto  b}r  an  overwhelming  majority. 

Immediately  after  General  Polk's  invasion  Grant's 
army  moved  across  the  Ohio  and  took  up  a  position  at 
Paducah.  It  was  moved  in  the  house  that  the  gov- 
l  Collins,  i.  93. 


252  KENTUCKY. 

ernor  demand  the  removal  of  the  Federal  as  well  as 
the  Confederate  troops.  This  was  refused  by  a  vote  of 
29  to  68. 

This  vote  may  be  regarded  as  a  final  commitment  of 
the  State  to  a  policy  of  complete  allegiance  to  the  Fed- 
eral government.  On  September  18th,  the  Committee 
on  Federal  Relations  brought  in  the  following  resolu- 
tions : J  — 

"  Whereas,  Kentucky  has  been  invaded  by  the  forces 
of  the  so-called  Confederate  States,  and  the  commanders 
of  the  forces  so  invading  the  State  have  insolently  pre- 
scribed the  conditions  upon  which  they  will  withdraw, 
thus  insulting  the  dignity  of  the  State  by  demanding 
terms  to  which  Kentucky  cannot  listen  without  dis- 
honor, therefore  : 

1.  "Be  it  Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Kentucky,  That  the  invaders  must  be  ex- 
pelled. Inasmuch  as  there  are  now  in  Kentucky  Federal 
troops  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  State,  and  of  defending  and  protecting 
the  people  of  Kentucky  in  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of 
their  lives  and  property,  it  is, 

2.  "  Further  Resolved,  That  General  Robert  Ander- 
son, a  native  Kentuckian,  who  has  been  appointed  to 
command  the  department  of  the  Cumberland,  be  re- 
quested to  take  instant  command,  with  authority  and 
power  from  this  Commonwealth  to  call  out  a  volunteer 
force  in  Kentucky,  for  the  purpose  of  expelling  the  in- 
vaders from  our  soil. 

3.  "  Resolved,  That  in  using  the  means  which  duty 
and  honor  require  shall  be  used  to  expel  the  invaders 
from  the  soil  of  Kentucky,  no  citizen  shall  be  molested 

i  See  Collins,  i.  93. 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.        253 

on  account  of  his  political  opinions  ;  and  that  no  citi- 
zen's property  shall  be  taken  or  confiscated  because  of 
such  opinions,  nor  shall  any  slave  be  set  free  by  any 
military  commander,  and  all  peaceaole  citizens  and  their 
families  are  entitled  to  and  shall  receive  the  fullest  pro- 
tection of  the  government  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
lives,  their  liberties,  and  their  property. 

4.  "  Resolved,  That  his  excellency  the  Governor  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky  be  requested  to  give 
all  the  aid  in  his  power  to  accomplish  the  end  desired 
by  these  resolutions ;  and  that  he  call  out  so  much  of 
the  military  force  of  the  State  under  his  command  as 
may  be  necessary  therefor,  and  that  he  place  the  same 
under  the  command  of  General  Thomas  L.  Crittenden. 

5.  "  Resolved,  That  the  patriotism  of  every  Kentuck- 
ian  is  invoked  and  is  confidently  relied  upon  to  give  ac- 
tive aid  in  the  defense  of  the  Commonwealth." 

These  resolutions  amount  in  fact  to  a  declaration  of 
war  on  the  Southern  Confederacy.  They  were  vetoed  by 
the  governor,  who  remained  in  sympathy  with  the  se- 
cessionist movement,  and  were  at  once  passed  by  an 
overwhelming  majority.  This  vote  definitely  closes  the 
effort  to  maintain  the  State  in  a  neutral  attitude. 

Before  passing  to  the  consideration  of  the  next  act  of 
this  political  drama,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  consider  cer- 
tain features  of  the  rapidly  changing  politics  of  the 
time. 

The  curious  feature  in  the  behavior  of  Kentucky  at 
this  time  is  the  simple,  indeed  artless,  exhibition  of  hu- 
man nature  in  the  whole  transaction.  It  was  a  singu- 
larly popular  movement.  Generally  in  the  action  of 
large  communities  in  time  of  such  trial  the  course  of 
a   State  is  dictated  by  certain   leaders, — deliberative 


254  KENTUCKY. 

statesmen  who  direct  the  course  of  events  in  highly 
artificial  channels,  so  that  there  is  a  cold,  disciplined 
quality  in  the  results  ;  or,  if  this  is  wanting,  it  is  be- 
cause some  fierce  outburst  of  passion  has  carried  the 
people  onward  into  headlong  ruin.  I  do  -not  know 
where  else  to  find  the  likeness  of  these  political  move- 
ments of  Kentucky,  so  deliberate,  so  dignified,  and  self- 
respecting  as  they  were. 

The  most  singular  thing  about  the  movement  was 
that  the  feeling,  though  intense,  was  at  this  time  re- 
markably free  from  the  commpuplace  bitterness  that 
marks  the  earlier  stages  of  most  civil  wars.  While  the 
people  were  falling  asunder,  going  each  to  their  places 
of  arms,  there  were  no  outrages,  no  combats  between 
the  passing  parties  of  men  who  were  to  be  foes.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  doubtful  if  in  years  the  State  had 
been  as  free  from  all  forms  of  disturbance  as  in  this 
time  of  parting.  A  great  sorrow  fell  upon  the  land. 
It  was  common  enough  to  see  strong  men  weeping  for 
the  woe  that  was  to  come  upon  their  beloved  State. 

One  of  the  most  painful  features  was  the  sundering 
of  households  that  now  took  place.  When  the  division 
came,  very  often  the  father  went  one  way,  the  sons  an- 
other. Usually  the  parting  lines  in  civil  wars  are 
drawn  by  neighborhoods  and  clans,  but  in  this  battle 
the  line  of  separation  went  through  all  associations 
whatsoever.  Families,  churches,  friendships,  seemed  to 
have  no  influence  whatever  on  the  way  men  went.  It 
was  the  most  singular  evidence  of  independent  minded- 
ness  that  is  recorded  in  history. 

To  the  considerate  observer,  the  most  interesting 
feature  in  this  period  was  the  absolute  forgetfulness  of 
the  moneyed  value  of  the  slave.     Nearly  one  fourth  the 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR.        255 

estimated  value  of  the  State  was  in  slaves,  yet  this  in- 
terest never  seemed  to  enter  into  the  minds  of  men  ; 
we  never  hear  of  it  in  the  public  debates,  and  it  was 
equally  absent  from  the  private  talk  of  the  times.  There 
was  no  movement  to  remove  the  slaves  southwards 
where  they  still  had  their  price.  There  was  the  same 
absence  of  desire  to  secure  other  property.  There  was 
no  drifting  out  of  capital  or  population  from  the  State, 
no  effort  to  convert  real  estate  or  chattels  into  money, 
such  as  has  so  often  in  other  countries  marked  the  be- 
ginning of  perilous  times.  This,  more  than  anything 
else,  shows  the  intensity  of  the  moral  shock  that  was 
brought  upon  the  people  by  the  swift  and  appalling 
changes  of  the  times. 

There  have  been  many  who  have  from  afar  flippantly 
criticised  the  behavior  of  the  Kentuckians  in  the  outset 
of  the  Civil  War,  who  have  attributed  their  slowness 
of  action  to  the  calculation  of  self-interest,  or  their  un- 
willingness to  enter  upon  the  combat  which  was  before 
them.  The  truth  is  the  Kentucky  people  had  a  clearer 
prescience  of  what  this  war  would  mean  than  the  other 
parts  of  the  Union.  The  traditions  of  their  firesides 
were  full  of  war  memories  ;  there  was  scarcely  a  family 
where  there  was  not  some  one  who  could  remember  the 
kindred  who  had  fallen  on  the  numberless  fields  where 
the  children  of  Kentucky  had  bled.  There  were  men 
still  living  who  remembered  the  days  of  St.  Clair's  de- 
feat, and  the  Raisin  massacre.  There  is  nothing  more 
pathetic  than  the  appeal  that  the  women  of  Kentucky 
made  in  1861  to  the  legislature  of  the  Commonwealth, 
to  guard  them  from  the  calamity  of  Civil  War  by  main- 
taining neutrality.  If  the  people  of  the  other  States 
had  been  as  well  able  to,  perceive  the  awful  seriousness 


256  KENTUCKY. 

of  this  crisis  as  were  those  of  Kentucky,  there  would 
have  been  no  war. 

When  a  historian  arises  who  can  treat  this  part  of 
American  history  with  the  calm  philosophy  it  deserves, 
we  may  be  sure  that  the  effort  of  Kentucky  to  stay  the 
tide  of  civil  conflict,  and  to  decide  the  difficulty  by 
statemanship  rather  than  by  arms,  will  not  be  set  down 
to  her  discredit,  but  will  appear  as  the  most  remarkable, 
as  well  as  the  most  creditable,  spontaneous  political  ac- 
tion in  the  history  of  that  great  struggle.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  it  will  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  best 
evidences  of  a  general  political  capacity  that  this  coun- 
try has  yet  afforded. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

FROM  THE  ABANDONMENT  OF  NEUTRALITY  TO  THE 
FALL  OF  FORT  DONELSON. 

The  suddenness  of  the  final  determination  in  the 
matter  of  neutrality  was  at  once  fortunate  and  unfortu- 
nate for  the  State.  It  made  it  impossible  for  the  Con- 
federacy immediately  to  seize  upon  its  strong  points, 
and  thus  forced  the  war  back  so  far  south,  that  for  the 
time  the  territory  of  the  Commonwealth  was  safe  from 
invasion  by  those  who  were  now  the  enemies  of  the 
State.  At  the  same  time  it  left  the  State  in  a  very  de- 
fenseless condition  ;  the  greater  part  of  the  arms  that 
had  been  purchased  by  the  legislature  went  into  the 
hands  of  the  State  Guard.  This  organization  contained 
at  this  time  ten  thousand  men,  and  was  an  admirably 
selected  and  tolerably  efficient  body  of  troops,  under 
the  command  of  well  trained  officers,  some  of  them 
from  the  West  Point  Academy,  others  from  the  State 
military  school.  Many  of  them  had  seen  service  in 
Mexico.  It  had  long  been  known  that  the  greater  part 
of  this  body  of  troops  was  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the 
disunion  element,  yet  it  was  hoped  that  their  States 
rights  motives  would  keep  them  true  to  the  Common- 
wealth. 

No  sooner  had  Kentucky  cast  in  her  lot  with  the 
Federal  government  than  almost  all  of  the  companies 
of  the  State  Guard  marched  from  the  State  and  joined 
17 


258  KENTUCKY. 

the  Confederate  army.  Its  commander-in-chief,  Buck- 
ner,  resigned  his  position  and  repaired  at  once  to  Camp 
Boone,  Tennessee,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  regiment 
of  Colonel  Roger  Hanson,  by  the  battalion  of  Lloyd 
Tighlman,  and  by  many  separate  companies  of  the  same 
force.  They  then  became  the  2d,  3d,  4th,  and  5th 
Kentucky  regiments  of  the  Confederate  army.  These 
men  of  the  State  Guard  were  not  the  first  Kentucky 
troops  that  entered  the  service  of  the  Confederacy.  In 
June,  1861,  Colonel  Withers  began  to  recruit  a  regi- 
ment for  that  service,  selecting  Camp  Boone  for  his 
rendezvous.  The  stimulus  given  to  the  Confederate 
hopes  by  the  victory  of  Bull  Run  sent  a  large  number 
of  recruits  to  this  camp,  so  that  even  before  the  State 
had  determined  against  the  South  the  2d  Regiment  of 
Kentucky  Confederate  Infantry  was  organized,  as  early 
as  July  17th.1 

John  H.  Morgan's  company  and  other  organizations 
passed  from  the  State  on  other  lines  of  march.  Thus 
a  force  which  was  designed  to  protect  the  State,  which 
was  armed  at  its  expense  and  sworn  into  its  service, 
abandoned  its  flag  as  soon  as  the  Commonwealth  finally 
determined  to  respect  its  Federal  obligations.  Noth- 
ing shows  better  the  intensity  of  the  sympathy  with 
the  Southern  movement  that  animated  the  secessionist 
minority  of  Kentucky.  Nothing  shows  so  well  that  the 
essential  motive  of  the  rebellion  had  not  come  from 
the  States  rights  motive.  The  men  and  officers  of 
this  State  Guard  were  as  honorable  men  as  the  Com- 
monwealth ever  had  ;  yet  in  this  moment  of  excitement 
they  cast  aside  all  the  bonds  of  allegiance  to  the  soil 

1  See  Thompson's  History  of  the  1st  Kentucky  Bi  i<jtiJe,   p.  51  et 
seq. 


FIRST  STAGE  OF  THE    WAR.  259 

that  bred  them,  and  with  the  training  and  in  part  with 
the  weapons  that  the  State  had  just  given  them  for 
her  defense,  repaired  to  the  camp  of  those  who  were 
now  her  declared  enemies.1  This  was  the  only  inci- 
dent in  the  days  of  parting  on  which  we  can  look 
with  grave  regret.  Knowing  as  the  present  writer  does 
the  soldierly  spirit  that  animated  so  many  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  State  Guard,  he  believes  that  they,  too, 
must  share  in  the  feeling  that  they  then  did  what  tliey 
should  not  have  done.  A  few  officers  and  some  men  of 
the  State  Guard  did  not  take  part  in  this  movement. 
Thomas  L.  Crittenden,  the  brigadier-general  of  the 
Guard,  remained,  and  afterward  took  service  in  the 
Federal  army,  but  the  State  Guard  as  a  whole  went 
over  to  the  Confederacy.  The  Home  Guards  remained, 
and  took  a  brave  but  not  always  admirable  part  in  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  war  ;  they  were  not  well  or- 
ganized ;  their  commanders  were  less  able  soldiers  than 
those  of  the  seceding  State  Guard. 

Although  the  secession  of  the  State  Guard  cannot  be 
defended  by  those  who  dispassionately  examine  it,  much 
can  be  said  in  its  favor.  In  the  first  place,  it  was  in 
the  power  of  the  governor  and  the  commanding  officer 
of  the  Guard  to  have  precipitated  the  State  into  seces- 
sion in  the  spring  of  1861.  Some  of  the  hot-heads  of 
the  party  desired  to  have  this  Guard,  or  the  most  de- 
cidedly secession  of  its  commands,  assembled  in  Frank- 
fort at  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  legislature  during 
the  month  of  May.  The  presence  in  the  capital  of  this 
force  at  that  time  would  probably  have  driveu  the  State 

1  Only  a  portion  (how  large  cannot  be  determined)  of  the  State 
Guard  took  their  arms  with  them  when  they  left  the  State.  Probably 
the  larger  part  went  out  unarmed. 


260  KENTUCKY. 

into  a  nominal  secession,  which  would  have  been  as 
effective  for  the  Southern  cause  as  was  the  action  of 
Tennessee.  To  General  Buckner,  the  commander  of 
the  forces,  to  John  C.  Breckinridge,  who  still  clung  to 
the  hope  of  some  accommodation,  and  to  Governor  Ma- 
goffin, who,  be  it  remembered,  in  all  cases  opposed  a 
severance  of  the  State  from  the  Union  without  what 
seemed  to  him  due  forms  of  law,  we  owe  the  fact  that 
this  well  trained  Guard  was  not  made  an  instrument 
of  great  danger  to  the  State. 

It  would  require  many  pages  to  give  even  a  list  of 
the  prominent  citizens  of  the  State  who  passed  its  bor- 
ders on  their  way  to  the  Southern  army.  In  the  month 
following  the  abandonment  of  neutrality  the  roads  were 
filled  with  the  hurrying  throng  of  horsemen  and  of 
wagons  conveying  munitions,  on  their  way  to  the  Con- 
federate camps  that  had  been  pitched  beyond  the  south- 
ern and  eastern  borders  of  the  State  for  their  recep- 
tion. The  Federal  government  pressed  what  troops 
were  available  for  service  into  the  State,  but  for  a 
mouth  or  more  the  central  part  of  the  Commonwealth 
was  held  by  the  recruits  that  had  been  gathering  at 
Camp  Dick  Robinson  and  by  the  companies  of  Home 
Guards.  The  process  of  enlistment  of  the  Federal  reg- 
iments went  rapidly  forward,  but  the  material  fit  for 
immediate  service  had  left  the  State  to  return  as  in- 
vaders. 

If  the  Confederate  army  that  had  gathered  around 
the  seceded  State  Guard  had  believed  that  the  people 
were  with  them  and  had  been  tolerably  determined  in 
their  resolution  to  possess  the  Commonwealth,  they 
might  have  at  this  time  seized  Louisville,  and  perhaps 
occupied  the  line   of  the  Ohio.     It  is  a  valuable  com- 


FIRST  STAGE   OF  THE    WAR.  261 

meutary  on  the  assertion  that  Kentucky  was  at  heart 
with  the  Confederacy,  that  with  a  force  of  several  thou- 
sand men,  whose  discipline  was  much  above  that  of  any 
force  that  could  oppose  them,  and  which  certainly 
equaled  the  Federal  troops  that  could  at  this  time  have 
been  brought  to  arrest  their  advance  to  the  northward, 
General  Buckner's  return  to  Kentucky,  he  knew  so 
well,  was  made  with  extreme  caution.1 

This  advance  of  Kentucky  troops  against  their  own 
State  was  begun  even  before  the  position  of  neutrality 
was  overthrown.  But  this  movement  was  extremely 
slow  and  circumspect.  On  the  20th  Buckner  was  in 
possession  of  the  line  of  the  Green  River,  a  strong 
strategic  position  defending  Nashville.  His  scouts  came 
as  far  north  as  Rolling  Fork  Station,  about  forty  miles 
south  of  Louisville,  breaking  up  the  line  of  the  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville  Railway,  so  that  it  could  not  be  used 
by  the  Union  forces.  On  the  21st  of  September  he 
destroyed  the  locks  and  dams  on  the  Green  River,  so 
as  to  prevent  a  movement  on  his  flank  by  Grant's  army, 
then  in  Western  Kentucky,  which  he  feared  might 
come  upon  him  by  boats  by  way  of  that  river.  At  the 
same  time  a  Confederate  army,   under  General   Zolli- 

1  On  September  10th  General  Albert  Sydney  Johnston,  lately  in  com- 
mand of  the  United  States  forces  on  the  Pacific,  by  birth  a  Kentuckian 
and  well  acquainted  with  the  State,  commanded  the  Confederate  de- 
partment which  included  Kentucky.  On  the  17th  of  September,  the 
day  before  the  State  abandoned  its  policy  of  neutrality,  General  John- 
ston ordered  General  Buckner  to  enter  the  State  under  the  following 
instructions,  namely  :  — 

"  You  will,  in  order  to  cover  the  northern  line  occupied  by  the  Con- 
federate army  in  this  department,  and  threatened  by  the  army  of  the 
United  States,  concentrate  your  command  at  Bowling  Green,  Ken- 
tucky, and  secure  and  hold  this  important  point  in  our  line  of  de- 
fense." See  The  Life  of  General  A.  S.  Johnston,  by  W.  P.  John- 
ston. New  York.  1880. 


262  KENTUCKY. 

coffer,  was  moving  on  Central  Kentucky  by  way  of  Bar- 
bourville,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State. 

The  first  recorded  combat  of  the  war  in  Kentucky 
was  between  the  advanced  guard  of  this  force  and  a 
body  of  Home  Guards.  It  was  termed  a  "  spirited  en- 
gagement," with  no  great  loss,  but  it  served  to  show 
the  Confederate  armies,  if  indeed  they  needed  the  in- 
formation, that  the  armed  populace  of  the  State  would 
make  a  stubborn  resistance  to  their  projected  invasion. 
The  departure  of  the  State  Guard,  and  the  hegira  of 
secessionists  that  accompanied  it,  had  left  the  people 
substantially  united  in  their  determination  to  combat  the 
Confederacy.  This  united  resistance  did  much  to  give 
the  Confederate  northward  movement  a  pause,  which 
made  it  afterward  impossible  for  them  to  secure  posses- 
sion of  the  State.  Kentucky  was  now  foreign  and  hos- 
tile ground  to  them.  Their  movements  in  it  were  re- 
ceived much  as  they  would  have  been  in  Ohio  or  In- 
diana. 

When  General  Johnston  made  his  well-considered 
movement  upon  Bowling  Green  it  was  with  the  hojDe 
that  his  presence  within  the  State  would  bring  great 
numbers  of  recruits  to  his  banners.  Despite  stirring 
proclamations  the  people  received  him  sullenly  ;  and  with 
a  force  that  on  October  28th  was,  according  to  General 
Johnston's  own  memoranda,  twelve  thousand  strong, 
quite  equaling  the  Federal  force  which  could  have  been 
brought  to  resist  him,  he  did  not  venture  to  move  be- 
yond his  fortifications.  General  Johnston  was  a  brave 
and  enterprising  soldier,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  his 
conviction  that  the  Kentucky  people  were  not  as  much 
in  sympathy  with  the  South  as  had  been  supposed,  he 
would  have  moved  forward  with  more  decision.     In  a 


FIRST  STAGE  OF  THE    WAR.  263 

letter  to  the  Confederate  War  Department,  dated  Oc- 
tober 22,  1861,  he  says:  — 

"  We  have  received  but  little  accession  to  our  ranks 
since  the  Confederate  forces  crossed  the  line  (*.  e.,  the 
line  dividing  Tennessee  and  Kentucky)  ;  in  fact  no  such 
demonstrations  of  enthusiasm  as  to  justify  any  move- 
ments not  warranted  by  our  ability  to  maintain  our  own 
communications.  It  is  true  that  I  am  writing  from  a 
Union  county,  and  it  is  said  to  be  different  in  other 
counties.  They  appear  to  me  to  be  passive,  if  not  apa- 
thetic. There  are  hundreds  of  ardent  friends  of  the 
South  in  the  State,  but  there  is  apparently  among  them 
no  concert  of  action.  I  shall,  howevei',  still  hope  that 
the  love  and  spirit  of  liberty  are  not  yet  extinct  in  Ken- 
tucky." * 

It  is  evident  that  the  calm,  intelligent  mind  of  Gen- 
eral Johnston,  already  saw  through  the  errors  concern- 
ing the  real  attitude  of  Kentucky  which  the  imagina- 
tions of  the  Confederate  sympathizers  had  created. 

On  the  23d  of  September  the  military  board  was 
given  power  to  demand  the  return  of  arms  from  all 
associations  that  were  suspected  of  disloyalty.  This 
was  a  provision  to  destroy  the  suspected  remnants  of 
the  State  Guard,  which  were  still  within  the  State.  The 
military  board  was  now  provided  with  a  large  amount  of 
money.  In  addition  to  the  appropriation  of  $1,000,000 
previously  made,  the  legislature,  on  the  23d  of  Sep- 
tember, gave  the  board  authority  to  borrow  another 
$1,000,000,  and  on  October  1st  §2,000,000  more  were 
put  at  their  disposal  for  raising  and  arming  troops.  By 
a  call  of  .September  25th,  the  Commonwealth  demanded 

1  See  Life  of  General  A.  S.  Johnston,  by  Win.  Preston  Johnston, 
p.  351. 


264  KENTUCKY. 

of  its  people  forty-two  thousand  troops,  or  one  man  for 
each  twenty-one  of  the  whole  white  population,  —  nearly 
one  half  of  those  remaining  in  the  State  who  were  fit  to 
bear  arms.  The  legislature  also  provided  that  the  ex- 
ecutive departments  might  remove  their  offices  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  enemy ;  and  that  no  liquor  should  he 
sold  within  five  miles  of  any  military  camp.  These 
resolute  steps  mark  the  earnestness  and  decision  with 
which  the  Commonwealth  entered  on  the  war. 

These  appropriations  of  money  and  of  men  were  far 
ahead  of  the  preparation  that  the  State  was  called  on 
to  make.  The  appropriation  of  four  millions  of  dollars 
from  her  slender  means,  and  forty  thousand  from  the 
possible  eighty  thousand  able-bodied  white  men  left  in 
the  State,  show  that  she  alone  of  all  the  American 
Commonwealths  saw  the  magnitude  of  the  struggle  on 
which  she  had  entered.  It  should  be  noticed  that  these 
steps  were  taken  in  the  dark  and  gloomy  days  that  fol- 
lowed the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  when  the  chances  seemed 
all  against  the  success  of  the  Federal  arms.  Nowhere 
in  the  Commonwealth  did  that  disastrous  and  dispirit- 
ing reverse,  and  the  subsequent  trying  inaction  of  the 
Northern  armies,  lead  to  any  hesitation  or  temporizing. 
The  State  government  went  forward  with  an  admirable 
courage  in  the  path  they  had  chosen. 

A  most  interesting  and  instructive  feature  of  the  time 
is  the  singular  determination  with  which  the  people 
clung  to  their  constitution  and  the  laws,  even  when  com- 
pelled by  the  needs  of  self-preservation  to  disregard  them. 
A  capital  instance  of  this  is  seen  in  their  action  with  ref- 
erence to  their  governor.  Although  Governor  Magoffin 
was  known  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the  rebellion,  and 
desirous  of  leading  the  State  out  of  the  Union  ;  although 


FIRST   STACK    OF   THE    WAR.  265 

he  vetoed  nearly  every  measure  of  protection  that  was 
passed  by  the  legislature,  no  effort  was  made  to  displace 
him  by  impeachment,  or  in  other  ways  to  drive  him  from 
his  post.  He  was  closely  watched,  and  in  fact  was 
guilty  of  no  act  of  disloyalty.  His  vetoes  were  within 
his  constitutional  right.  They  were  in  succession  over- 
borne by  a  large  majority,  and  in  each  instance,  be  it 
said  to  his  great  credit,  he  at  once  did  his  duty  as  an  ex- 
ecutive officer  in  giving  effect  to  the  laws  which  he  had 
conscientiously  vetoed.  For  eighteen  months  the  legis- 
lature bore  with  this  extraordinary  relation  to  the  chief 
executive  officer  of  the  Commonwealth  because  it  was 
not  in  their  power  legally  to  dismiss  him.  Throughout 
they  gave  him  the  formal  respect  that  his  station  de- 
manded, and  when  his  own  slow  won  conviction  of  his 
false  position  led  to  his  resignation,  they  "accomplished 
the  change  of  officers  in  a  legal  and  dignified  manner. 
This  commendable  course  should  be  borne  in  mind 
until  we  have  considered  the  critical  attitude  which  the 
legislature  was  in  the  end  cornf>elled  to  take  to  the  Fed- 
eral usurpations  of  authority.  This  determined  and 
instinctive  clinging  to  the  letter  of  the  law  is  the  key 
to  many  important  actions  in  the  subsequent  years  of 
the  war. 

This  regard  for  the  laws  was  shown  in  many  other 
ways,  but  only  one  other  instance  need  be  given.  In 
order  to  afford  every  facility  to  the  Federal  commanders 
the  legislature  passed,  on  October  1st,  a  bill  which  "  re- 
quired information,  surveys,  maps,  and  drawings  to  be 
given  to  officers  of  the  army  upon  application  therefor 
without  delay."  This  bill  was  vetoed  by  the  governor 
on  the  ground  that  private  property  was  guaranteed 
from  seizure  without  the  process  of  law.     The  legisla- 


266  KENTUCKY. 

ture  instantly  receded  from  its  action,  there  being  but 
one  vote  in  favor  of  passing  the  bill  over  the  governor's 
veto.  This  was  the  only  veto  of  the  governor  that  re- 
ceived this  treatment. 

It  was  a  great  good  fortune  for  the  Commonwealth 
in  this  critical  period,  that  the  Federal  command  was, 
at  the  request  of  the  legislature,  given  to  General  Rob- 
ert Anderson,  well  known  for  his  defense  of  Fort 
Sumter.  General  Anderson  was  born  in  the  State, 
and  his  extensive  family  connections  gave  him  a  better 
understanding  of  the  motives  of  the  people  than  any 
other  commander  could  have  had.  He  was  in  perfect 
sympathy  with  the  determination  of  the  leaders  of  that 
party  to  maintain  the  civil  law  as  far  as  it  was  possible 
to  do  so.  On  September  24th,  he  issued  the  following 
proclamation  :  "  The  commanding  general,  understand- 
ing that  apprehension  is  entertained  by  citizens  of  this 
State  who  have  hitherto  been  in  opposition  to  the 
policy  now  adopted  by  this  State,  hereby  gives  notice 
that  no  Kentuckian  shall  be  arrested  who  remains  at 
home  attending  to  his  business,  and  does  not  take  part, 
either  by  action  or  speech,  against  the  authority  of  the 
general  or  State  government,  or  does  not  hold  corre- 
spondence with  or  give  aid  or  assistance  to  those  who 
have  arrayed  themselves  against  us  as  our  enemies."  x 
At  the  same  time  the  legislature  refused  to  pass  a  bill 
making  all  those  who  joined  the  Confederate  army  or 
acted  with  the  Confederacy  incapable  of  taking  any  es- 
tate in  Kentucky  by  bequest,  descent,  or  distribution. 
The  basis  of  their  refusal  was  that  this  was  contrary  to 
the  spirit  of  the  constitution. 

The  difficulty  of  maintaining  the  activity  of  the  civil 
i  Collins,  i.  94. 


FIRST  STAGE  OF  TIIE    WAR.  267 

law  in  this  period  of  conflict  was  made  the  greater  by 
the  action  of  the  Home  Guards,  a  force  that  could  not 
be  kept  in  proper  control.  These  partisan  troops  made 
many  raids  upon  persons  known  to  be  in  sympathy 
with  the  South.  The  whole  experience  of  the  Civil 
War  with  these  detached  localized  troops  served  to 
show  that  they  were  an  element  of  great  danger  to  the 
civil  government  of  the  State.  The  rapid  organization 
of  the  regular  troops  of  Kentucky  fortunately  made  it 
possible  in  time  partly  to  do  away  with  this  mediaeval 
type  of  soldiery,  but  the  local  disturbances  that  they 
bred  were  of  more  permanent  damage  to  the  State  than 
all  the  large  operations  of  war  that  were  ever  carried 
on  within  her  borders.  Their  deeds  of  violence  bred  a 
crop  of  hatreds  and  blood  feuds  in  which  hundreds  of 
lives  were  sacrified,  and  certain  counties  made  almost 
desolate  for  years  after  the  close  of  the  war.  Perhaps 
the  best  military  lesson  taught  by  the  rebellion  is  that 
the  middle  age  system  of  partisan  commands  is  utterly 
unfit  for  the  warfare  of  the  day,  and  a  source  of  great 
danger  to  any  State  which  is  trying  to  preserve  the 
precious  elements  of  its  social  system  in  a  time  of  civil 
war. 

The  organization  of  the  State  troops  for  service  in 
the  Federal  army  now  became  a  matter  of  the  first  im- 
portance and  of  extreme  difficulty.  The  governor  and 
his  cabinet  were  committed  to  an  opposition  to  this  pro- 
cess. Although  the  recruiting  camps  were  overflowing 
with  men,  they  were  not  organized  and  mustered  as 
rapidly  as  they  should  have  heen.  Fortunately  the 
resignation  of  the  adjutant-general,  Scott  Brown,  was 
brought  about,  and  in  his  place  the  governor  consented 
to  appoint  General  John  W.  Fiuneil.     This  gentleman 


268  KENTUCKY. 

was  extremely  well  fitted  for  the  arduous  duties  of  his 
place ;  of  untiring  energy,  strongly  devoted  to  the  cause 
of  the  Union,  and  skillful  in  his  dealings  with  men,  he 
soon  proved  of  incalculable  value  to  the  State.  Before 
the  end  of  the  month  nearly  twenty  thousand  Ken- 
tuckians  were  enlisted  and  fairly  ready  for  the  field. 
The  newly  organized  regiments  from  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
the  other  Northern  States,  brought  up  the  Federal  force 
in  the  State  to  about  forty  thousand  men. 

This  support  came  none  too  soon.  Heavy  columns 
of  Confederate  troops  were  endeavoring  to  make  their 
way  into  the  State  before  the  Federal  government  could 
fix  itself  in  advantageous  positions.  Their  armies  held 
nearly  all  the  district  south  of  the  Green  River,  and 
were  pushing  their  detachments  towards  the  central  and 
northern  parts  of  the  State.  On  the  21st  of  October, 
General  Zollicoffer,  a  trained  soldier,  of  a  distinguished 
Swiss  family,  though  of  American  birth,  in  command 
of  seven  thousand  troops,  endeavored  to  push  his  way 
along  the  "  wilderness  turnpike  "  to  Central  Kentucky. 
He  was  met  at  the  Wild  Cat  Mountain,  near  London, 
by  the  7th  Kentucky  Regiment  under  Colonel  Garrard. 
Colonel  Garrard's  force  acted  well  in  its  first  action  ; 
they  resisted  the  Confederate  advance  until  they  were 
reinforced  by  General  Schoepff  in  command  of  six  reg- 
iments of-  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Tennessee  troops,  as  well 
as  by  "Wolford's  cavalry.  The  Confederates,  finding 
themselves  in  face  of  an  equal  force  occupying  a  very 
strong  position,  retired  after  a  loss  of  thirty  killed  and 
about  one  hundred  wounded ;  the  Federal  loss  was  less. 

This  action,  though  it  did  not  deserve  the  name  of  a 
battle,  was  worth  a  good  deal  as  a  source  of  inspiration 
to  the  raw  levies  of  the  State.     There  was  at  this  time 


FIRST  STAGE    OF   THE    WAR.  269 

a  common  notion  that  the  emigration  of  some  forty 
thousand  of  the  natural  leaders  and  fighting  population 
of  the  State  had  left  it  with  little  material  that  could 
be  made  into  good  soldiers.  Even  General  Sherman, 
who  had  recently  replaced  General  Anderson,  took  at 
first  a  hopeless  view  of  the  military  situation.  He  re- 
ported to  Washington  that  the  young  men  of  Kentucky 
had  generally  joined  the  Confederate  army,  and  that  the 
Union  men  were  aged  and  conservative,  and  would  not 
enlist  to  fight  against  their  Southern  kindred.  He  as- 
sured the  government  that  few  Union  regiments  could  be 
raised  in  Kentucky.  How  easy  it  is  to  misjudge  a  peo- 
ple is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Kentucky's  quota  of  troops 
was  always  full,  and  that  despite  the  fact  that  over  forty 
thousand  of  her  young  men  did  go  into  the  rebellion, 
she  raised  all  the  men  that  fell  to  her  share  almost 
without  bounties,  and  practically  without  a  draft,  a  pa- 
triotic record  that  was  not  exceeded,  if  it  was  equaled, 
by  any  State  in  the  Union. 

The  remainder  of  the  year  18(32  was  spent  in  prepa- 
ration for  movements  that  were  to  drive  the  Confederates 
from  Kentucky.  There  were  many  small  actions  be- 
tween the  outposts  of  the  two  armies,  only  two  of  which 
deserve  particular  mention.  On  November  8th  a  Con- 
federate force  of  about  one  thousand  men,  under  com- 
mand of  Colonel  John  S.  Williams,  well  known  for  his 
gallant  service  during  the  Mexican  War,  encountered  a 
Federal  force  of  nearly  thrice  their  number  under  Gen- 
eral Nelson  at  Ivy  Mountain,  on  the  head  waters  of  the 
Kentucky  River,  near  the  Virginia  line.  Unhappily 
for  their  plans,  the  Confederates  had  chosen  a  position 
where  their  fire  was  downwards,  and  therefore  entirely 
ineffective ;  so,  after  a  stubborn  forest  fidit  of  over  an 


270  KENTUCKY. 

hour,  they  were  driven  from  the  field.  On  December 
17th  the  Confederates  were  defeated  in  an  action  of 
a  considerable  nature  near  Munfordsville,  where  the 
Louisville  and  Nashville  Railway  crosses  the  Green 
River.  These,  and  numerous  other  slight  engagements, 
were  useful  for  the  training  of  the  Federal  troops, 
though  they  had  no  strategic  value. 

Mingled  with  such  endless  skirmishes  and  cross-roads 
battles  we  find  a  singular  incident  which  throws  some 
light  on  the  political  projects  of  the  Confederate  gov- 
ernment. It  shows  very  clearly  how  important  the 
possession  of  Kentucky,  even  in  name,  appeared  to  it, 
and  how  much  they  were  willing  to  ignore  the  facts  of 
the  political  position  of  Kentucky  in  order  to  have  some 
apparent  claim  upon  the  soil.  It  should  be  premised 
that  the  secession  element  had  convinced  themselves 
that  the  State  was  in  some  obscure  way  held  under  Fed- 
eral domination,  and  that  if  they  could  have  a  pleliiscit 
for  or  against  secession  they  could  win  the  State  to  their 
side.  At  this  time  the  Confederate  armies  held  about 
one  tenth  the  area  of  the  Commonwealth,  a  region  lying 
south  of  the  Green  River  and  east  of  the  Cumberland ; 
within  this  region  they  were  closely  hemmed  ;  their 
forays  beyond  their  lines  having  been  in  all  cases  easily 
beaten  back.  Yet  on  the  18th  of  November  they  called 
what  they  were  pleased  to  term  a  "  sovereignty  conven- 
tion," which  sat  for  three  days,  and  claimed  to  have  rep- 
resentatives from  sixty-five  of  the  counties  of  the  State. 
These  representatives  were  self-appointed,  or  chosen 
by  the  troops  from  Kentucky  then  in  the  Confederate 
army.  In  this  singular  assembly  a  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence and  an  ordinance  of  secession  were  passed ; x 
l  See  Collins,  i.  97. 


FIRST  STAGE   OF  THE    WAR.  271 

a  full  list  of  State  officers  was  elected.  At  the  head 
of  this  list  was  Colonel  George  W.  Johnson,  of  Scott 
County,  as  provisional  governor,  and  at  the  foot,  W.  N. 
HaldemaD,  of  Oldham,  was  chosen  to  be  State  printer. 
Three  commissioners  were  sent  from  the  convention  to 
Richmond,  Va.,  to  ask  the  admission  of  the  State  into 
the  Confederacy,  and  on  the  9th  of  December  that  body 
went  through  the  process  of  admitting  Kentucky  into 
the  Southern  Union.  When  we  recall  the  year  of  skill- 
ful, devoted  labor  these  gentlemen  who  managed  the 
convention  had  just  given  to  carry  the  State  into  re- 
bellion, an  effort  in  which  they  were  favored  by  the 
possession  of  the  State  government  and  a  large  share 
of  the  sympathies  of  the  people,  it  seems  incredible  that 
they  should  of  their  own  will  have  undertaken  this  pre- 
tense of  legislation.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  the 
Confederate  government  needed  the  appearance,  if  they 
could  not  get  the  substance,  of  Kentucky  support,  and 
that  this  performance  was  gone  through  with  under  in- 
structions from  the  Richmond  government. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  case.  The  writer  has  been 
assured  that  the  project  came  from  the  brilliant  and 
fertile  mind  of  Mr.  G.  W.  Johnson,  who  was  elected 
the  provisional  governor.  It  is  said  that  to  his  great 
powers  of  persuasion  was  due  the  final  consent  of  Gen- 
erals Johnston,  Preston,  and  Breckinridge,  who  at  the 
outset  vigorously  opposed  the  project.  The  arguments 
of  Mr.  Johnson  have  not  been  published  ;  it  is  likely, 
however,  that  he  saw  the  need  of  satisfying  the  Ken- 
tucky Confederate  troops  that  they  were  acting  with, 
and  not  against,  their  State  government,  and  that  he 
deemed  this  semblance  of  such  government,  the  best 
at  the  moment  attainable,  better  than  nothing  at  all. 


272  KENTUCKY. 

There  was  much  reason  in  this  judgment.  It,  however, 
proceeded  on  the  assumption  that  the  Confederates  were 
to  continue  their  advance  into  Kentucky. 

In  a  few  weeks  this  "  provisional  government "  gave 
evidence  of  its  eminently  temporary  character  hy  leav- 
ing the  State  in  company  with  General  Johnston's 
army.  For  nearly  two  years  they  waited  over  the  bor- 
der, like  exiled  Stuarts,  for  the  time  of  coming  to  their 
own.  Their  gallant  leader,  Mr.  Johnson,  governor,  met 
a  soldier's  death  as  a  private,  in  the  ranks  of  the  4th 
Kentucky  Confederate  regiment,  at  Pittsburg  Landing. 
The  other  officers  watched  for  a  chance  that  came,  but 
for  one  hour,  when  they  might  take  their  places  in  the 
capitol  of  the  State  ; 1  still,  during  the  whole  war,  the 
pretense  that  Kentucky  was  a  Confederate  State  was 
steadfastly  maintained.  There  were  senators  and  rep- 
resentatives from  the  State  in  the  Confederate  Congress 
elected  by  the  soldiers  in  the  field.  Few  more  curious 
instances  of  a  political  pretense  can  be  found  in  history. 
It  is  impossible  to  see  where  was  the  profit  of  this  ac- 
tion ;  so  far  from  gaining  sympathy  for  the  rebellion  in 
Kentucky,  it  tended  rather  to  discredit  the  Confederacy 
among  its  people. 

During  the  whole  of  the  year  1861  the  Legislature  of 
Kentucky  was  in  intermittent  session,  the  adjournments 
being  for  only  a  few  weeks  at  a  time ;  their  attention 
was  given  to  the  work  of  watching  their  governor,  who, 
be  it  said,  acted  in  a  perfectly  honorable  manner  in  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  committed  to  him,  and  to  a  so- 
licitous care  that  the  machinery  of  the  civil  law  was 
kept  in  motion  as  well  as  it  could  be  in  a  time  of  war. 
Their  anxious  efforts  to  preserve  the  people  from  the 
i  Vide  infra,  p.  303. 


FIRST  STAGE   OF    THE    WAR.  273 

exactions  of  military  commanders  is  worthy  of  great 
commendation.  The  Federal  government,  out  of  grati- 
tude for  the  allegiance  of  the  State,  was  naturally  dis- 
posed to  give  way  to  their  suggestions,  and  for  a  long 
time,  indeed,  until  the  war  became  much  embittered, 
there  was  little  severity  or  lawlessness  in  the  action  of 
the  Federal  commanders.  The  only  considerable  diffi- 
culty was  with  General  Nelson,  himself  a  Kentuckian, 
but  a  man  of  a  singularly  furious  nature,  who  persisted 
in  the  summary  arrest  and  deportation  from  the  State 
of  many  citizens  whom  he  suspected  of  sympathy  with 
the  Confederacy.  General  W.  T.  Sherman,  who  for  a 
while  commanded  the  forces  in  the  State,  and  all  others 
in  command  in  the  first  year  of  the  war  in  Kentucky, 
except  General  Nelson,  who,  though  Sherman's  subordi- 
nate, seems  never  to  have  been  in  any  proper  sense 
under  his  command,  seconded  the  protests  of  the  legis- 
lature against  arbitrary  arrest.  General  Sherman  stated 
that  the  removal  of  prisoners  beyond  the  State,  except 
those  held  as  spies  and  prisoners  of  war,  "  without  giv- 
ing them  an  opportunity  for  trial  by  the  legal  tribunals 
of  the  country,  does  not  meet  my  approval." 

Long  after  the  legislature  had  demanded  the  resigna- 
tions of  their  senators  at  Washington,  the  United  States 
senate  expelled  John  C.  Breckinridge,  who  had  been 
for  some  months  with  the  Confederate  army.  The  leg- 
islature chose  as  his  successor  Garrett  Davis,  an  able 
and  loyal  man,  who  had  previously  held  a  seat  in  the 
lower  house  of  Congress. 

In  January  the  Confederate  army,  under  General 
Johnston,  which  closely  pressed  and  gravely  threatened 
Western  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  sought  to  create  a 

1  See  Collins,  i.  97. 
18 


274  KENTUCKY. 

diversion  by  a  movement  on  the  Federal  lines  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  State.  General  George  B.  Critten- 
den, the  Confederate  commander,  held  an  eutrenched 
camp  at  Beech  Grove,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Cum- 
berland, in  Pulaski  County.  A  considerable  force, 
under  General  George  H.  Thomas,  was  marching  upon 
his  position,  but  had  not  concentrated  for  an  attack. 
General  Crittenden  sought  to  beat  his  enemy  in  detail 
before  the  impending  concentration  was  effected.  Leav- 
ing his  camp  with  a  force  of  about  five  thousand  men, 
on  Sunday,  January  19th,  before  day,  General  Zol- 
licoffer,  who  commanded  under  Crittenden,  struck  the 
advanced  part  of  this  Federal  force  under  the  command 
of  General  George  H.  Thomas.  Thomas  had  with  him 
the  4th  Kentucky  Infantry,  a  portion  of  the  1st  Ken- 
tucky Cavalry,  and  a  regiment  each  from  the  States  of 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Minnesota,  a  force  but  little  less  than 
General  Zollicoffer's  attacking  column.  Then  began  the 
most  hotly  contested  battle  that  had  yet  taken  place  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  For  some  hours  the  fight  went 
on  with  varying  fortune,  but  with  no  clear  indication 
of  the  result,  when  the  overwhelming  reinforcements 
received  by  the  Federal  army  and  the  death  of  Zolli- 
coffer  by  a  pistol  shot  from  Colonel  Speed  Fry,  who 
commanded  the  4th  Kentucky  Infantry,  decided  the  ac- 
tion. The  Confederates  were  forced  to  their  intrenched 
camp,  from  which  they  managed  to  escape  across  the 
Cumberland  River  during  the  night,  by  boats  which 
they  burned  behind  them,  with  a  total  loss  of  about 
five  hundred  men.  The  evacuated  camp  was  found  to 
contain  a  large  amount  of  artillery,  munitions,  and  many 
stores. 

This  blow  removed  for  a  moment  the  danger  of  in- 


FIRST  STAGE   OF  THE    WAR.  275 

vasion  in  Eastern  Kentucky.  It  was  several  months 
before  the  Confederate  army  again  gathered  force  and 
courage  to  make  another  attack  upon  the  State  by  this 
eastern  line.  This  battle  of  Mill  Spring,  or  Logan's 
Cross  Roads,  though  the  total  of  killed  and  wounded 
did  not  exceed  six  hundred,  was  a  remarkably  well  con- 
tested fight.  The  men  on  both  sides  were  entirely  un- 
used to  war,  yet  they  showed  the  endurance  of  veterans. 
In  the  winter  of  1861-62  the  success  of  General 
Grant's  movement  against  the  fortifications  by  which 
the  Confederates  expected  to  secure  control  of  the  Ten- 
nessee and  the  Cumberland  rivers  had  an  important  in- 
fluence on  the  Confederate  plan  of  campaign.  The 
organization  of  the  "  provisional  government "  at  Rus- 
sell ville,  and  the  rapid  accumulation  of  troops  and  mu- 
nitions at  Bowling  Green,  showed  pretty  clearly  that 
the  Confederates  had  the  military  capacity  to  foresee 
that  the  possession  of  Kentucky  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  the  prosecution  of  any  successful  campaign  in 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  A  glance  at  a  map  of  the 
United  States  will  show  that  this  State  cuts  deeply  into 
the  area  of  the  South.  If  the  Confederacy  could  but 
once  seize  upon  it  and  hold  the  borders  of  the  Ohio 
River,  they  would  have  the  only  strongly  defensible  line 
of  the  West.  They  could  then  hope  to  transfer  the  war 
to  the  very  frontier  of  the  South,  or  even  bring  its  bur- 
den upon  the  Northern  soil.  The  Ohio  River  line  is 
very  defensible.  There  are  very  few  fords  j:>racticable 
for  an  army  even  in  the  lowest  water ;  there  were 
then  no  bridges.  With  the  shipping  on  that  river  de- 
stroyed, and  with  strongholds  at  a  few  points  on  the 
line  of  the  river,  they  would  have  had  a  position  even 
more    secure  than  that  they  held  in  Virginia.     Their 


276  KENTUCKY. 

plan  evidently  was  to  make  a  strong  push  for  the  pos- 
session of  this  Ohio  line.  They  would  then  have  at 
their  back  the  fertile  lands  of  Kentucky,  richer  in  grain 
and  horses  and  mules  than  auy  other  part  of  the  South, 
—  the  best  fitted  to  maintain  an  army  of  any  State  in 
the  Union,  —  together  with  a  population  of  a  million 
people,  from  which  they  could  hope  to  draw  a  large 
force  of  men.  The  neutrality  attitude  of  Kentucky  had 
deprived  them  of  their  chance  to  capture  this  ground 
with  the  sudden  enthusiastic  rush  that  secured  them 
Virginia ;  the  obstinate  resistance  that  they  had  met  in 
their  first  efforts  to  push  flying  columns  into  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  State  during  the  autumn  of  1861  made 
it  evident  that  they  would  have  to  accumulate  a  large 
force  of  men  before  this  campaign  could  be  undertaken 
with  any  prospect  of  success  ;  so  it  was  midwinter  be- 
fore they  were  ready  to  act. 

In  the  mean  time  they  were  threatened  by  the  way 
of  the  Tennessee  and  the  Cumberland  rivers,  which 
streams  made  their  position  open  to  a  turning  move- 
ment from  the  west.  They  appear  to  have  neglected 
to  strengthen  the  fortifications  on  these  waters  in  any 
effective  way.  The  little  that  was  known  of  the  Fed- 
eral gunboats  led  the  Confederate  soldiers  to  underesti- 
mate their  ability  to  develop  any  formidable  attacking 
qualities ;  so  the  fortifications  on  these  rivers,  though 
strong  enough  to  resist  any  assault  from  the  Federal 
armies,  fell  easily  before  a  combined  naval  and  military 
force.  The  Confederate  commanders  do  not  seem  to 
have  apprehended  the  very  great  importance  of  these 
positions,  though  this  should  have  been  clear  to  them. 

The  first  great  misfortune  to  the  Confederate  arms 
was  in  the  loss  of  Fort  Henry,  on  the  Tennessee  River, 


FIRST  STAGE   OF  THE   WAR.  277 

just  south  of  the  Kentucky  line.  This  fort  was  com- 
manded by  General  Lloyd  Tilghrnan,  who  was  an  offi- 
cer of  the  Kentucky  State  Guard,  and  had  hastened 
into  the  army  of  the  Confederacy  as  soon  as  the  State 
called  upon  him  for  the  service  he  had  engaged  to  give. 
He  surrendered  his  post  after  a  few  hours'  bombard- 
ment, without  receiving  any  assault.  This  placed  Gen- 
eral Grant's  force  well  on  the  flank  of  the  column  at 
Bowling  Green,  but  as  the  Cumberland  River  was  still 
held  by  the  Confederates,  that  force  was  not  yet  in 
serious  danger.  There  was  still  a  chance  for  its  able 
leader,  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  to  make  hid 
proposed  dash  for  Louisville  and  the  line  of  the  Ohio, 
provided  the  Cumberland  River  was  firmly  held ;  but 
before  this  movement  could  be  undertaken,  Grant's 
fleet  and  army  were  thundering  at  the  defenses  of  the 
Cumberland.  General  Johnston  was  not  without  a  clear 
discernment  of  his  position  ;  he  knew  that  this  critical 
point  should  have  been  held  at  all  hazards,  yet  it  was 
inefficiently  defended.  Only  a  week  after  the  fall  of 
Fort  Henry  Grant's  forces  were  before  the  lines  of  Fort 
Donelson.  The  action  began  on  the  12th  of  February, 
and  lasted  five  days.  The  Confederates  in  this  fort 
were  under  the  command  of  Generals  Floyd  and  Pil- 
low. General  Buckuer,  lately  in  charge  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Guard,  was  the  third  in  command.  The  total 
Confederate  force  available  for  the  defense  of  Donelson 
amounted  to  about  fifteen  thousand  men,  who  occupied 
an  exceedingly  strong  natural  position,  which  had  been 
made  stronger  by  an  abundant  expenditure  of  engineer- 
ing skill.1  Grant's  force  was  nearly  twice  as  numerous 
as  that  of  the  Confederates,  but  the  strength  of  the 
1  See  Life  of  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  p.  H3. 


278  KENTUCKY. 

Confederate  lines  made  the  conditions  of  the  struggle 
not  unequal.  The  Confederate  artillery  succeeded,  in 
the  end,  in  crippling  all  the  gunboats  before  they  had 
destroyed  the  defenses  of  the  stronghold.  It  then  re- 
mained for  the  Federal  army  to  carry  the  position  by 
assault. 

The  Federal  forces  essayed  several  assaults,  but  were 
easily  beaten  back  with  severe  loss.  This,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  successful  combat  with  the  gunboats,  would 
have  encouraged  a  well  trained  soldier  to  hold  his 
ground  with  the  hope  that  at  the  right  moment  he 
might  take  the  offensive  against  his  enfeebled  antago- 
nist. But  Floyd,  though  brave  enough,  was  not  made 
of  war-proof  material.  He  had  been  charged  by  Gen- 
eral Johnston  under  any  circumstances  to  save  his  army, 
so  he  determined  to  cut  his  way  out,  and  escape  with  his 
force  to  Nashville  while  it  was  possible.  A  sortie  was 
determined  on  and  abandoned,  and  finally  replanned  and 
successfully  executed  with  great  gallantly.  The  Fed- 
eral line  gave  way,  was  thrown  back  like  a  door  on  its 
hinges,  and  the  way  of  escape  for  the  Confederates  lay 
wide  open.  An  unfounded  alarm  concerning  Federal 
reinforcements  caused  Floyd  to  return  to  his  intrench- 
ments  after  he  had  practically  attained  the  object  of  his 
sortie.  His  troops  had  been  worn  out  in  winning  their 
profitless  victory,  and  were  benumbed  by  a  fierce  win- 
ter's storm.  Still  they  had  not  lost  more  than  one  in  ten 
of  their  numbers.  It  was  determined  to  surrender  after 
a  portion  of  the  army  had  been  passed  over  the  river  to 
the  uninvested  side  of  the  fortress,  and  another  part  es- 
caped up  the  stream  on  a  steamer.  General  Buckner, 
to  whom  the  command  had  been  turned  over,  capitu- 
lated to  General  Grant.    Soldiers  of  the  Commonwealth, 


FIRST  STAGE    OF   TIIE    WAR.  279 

both  Confederate  and  Federal,  were  engaged  in  this 
battle,  —  two  regiments  on  each  side,  —  and  did  their 
share  of  the  fighting.  The  Confederate  loss  in  killed 
and  wounded  was  1,338  men,  or  about  one  tenth  their 
force,  and  8,000  prisoners.  The  Federal  loss  by  wounds 
was  about  the  same. 

It  is  the  general  opinion  of  military  men  that  the  de- 
fense of  Fort  Donelson,  though  obstinate,  was  not  as 
desperate  as  the  exigencies  of  the  Confederate  cause  de- 
manded. The  chance  of  ultimate  Confederate  success 
in  Kentucky  depended  on  the  issue  of  this  defense 
more  than  it  ever  depended  on  any  other  battle  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  On  it  hung  also  the  power  of  the 
Confederacy  to  control  the  State  of  Tennessee,  and  its 
chance  of  getting  possession  of  Kentucky.  It  was  for 
the  Southern  cause  the  most  serious  action  of  the  war. 
The  commander  should  have  sacrificed  everything  for 
the  reasonable  hope  that  he  might  in  the  end  have 
worn  out  the  force  of  his  enemy.  If  there  ever  was  a 
position  in  which  a  desperate  defense  was  called  for,  it 
was  at  Fort  Donelson.  But  there  was  a  singular  lack 
of  determination  in  the  resistance  that  the  Confederacy 
made  at  this  stage  of  that  western  campaign.  On  the 
14th  of  February,  even  before  the  fate  of  Donelson  was 
fully  decided  by  the  issue  of  battle,  General  Johnston, 
accepting  defeat  as  inevitable,  began  the  evacuation  of 
Bowling  Green.  The  Confederate  army  was  compelled 
to  destroy  the  stores  accumulated  for  the  Kentucky  cam- 
paign, necessarily  abandoned  on  the  fall  of  Donelson. 
On  the  27th  of  the  month  the  Confederate  position  at 
Columbus,  the  occupation  of  which  by  General  Polk 
had  ended  the  neutrality  of  Kentucky,  was  evacuated. 

These  movements  cleared  away  the  first  invasion  of 


280  KENTUCKY. 

Kentucky.  There  were  now  no  organized  bodies  of  the 
enemy  within  its  limits,  nor  for  months  was  its  peace 
disturbed  except  by  raids  of  the  Confederates. 

This  failure  of  the  Confederates  to  obtain  possession 
of  Kentucky  at  the  outset  of  the  war  was  in  good  part 
due  to  their  own  extreme  caution.  This  caution  is  very 
instructive.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  Confederate 
army  consisted  in  large  part  of  Kentuckians,  including 
the  most  enthusiastic  and  soldierly  part  of  the  popula- 
tion; it  was  commanded  by  men  like  Johnston,  Buck- 
ner,  Crittenden,  and  Tilghman,  who  were  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  State  and  with  the  temper  of  the 
people.  In  their  public  utterances,  the  Confederates 
always  claimed  that  Kentucky  was  in  thorough  sym- 
pathy with  their  cause.  Why,  then,  we  may  ask,  did 
they  not  at  once  push  north  and  rescue  their  State  from 
Federal  domination  ?  When  Buckner  moved  from  Nash- 
ville to  Bowling  Green,  there  were  few  troops  in  Ken- 
tucky except  those  native  to  the  State  ;  if  he  could 
have  counted  on  the  sympathy  of  the  population,  he 
would  have  had  no  difficulty  in  overrunning  the  State, 
for  the  men  whom  he  received  as  recruits  would  have 
been  as  fit  for  service  as  the  raw  Federal  levies.  Their 
action  makes  it  evident  that  the  Confederate  leaders 
did  not  believe  that  Kentucky  would  receive  them  with 
open  arms.  If  they  had  any  doubts  on  the  subject,  the 
spirited  battles  between  their  scouting  parties  and  the 
citizens  cleared  their  minds,  and  showed  them  that  it 
would  require  about  the  same  force  to  invade  Kentucky 
as  it  would  to  march  into  the  States  north  of  the  Ohio. 
It  is  likely  that  this  view  of  Kentucky's  position  did 
much  to  hinder  the  movement  from  Bowling  Green  to 
the  northward. 


FIRST  STAGE   OF   THE   WAR.  281 

The  belief  that  Kentucky  was  with  them  in  spirit, 
though  not  held  by  those  who  knew  most  of  the  matter, 
grew  to  be  a  mania  with  Confederate  authorities  at 
Richmond.  It  resembled  the  Northern  idea  of  the  im- 
mense Union  interest  in  the  South,  or  the  longing  of  the 
negroes  to  take  active  measures  to  secure  their  free- 
dom. Such  delusions,  born  of  desire,  are  an  accompani- 
ment of  all  civil  wars ;  these  wars  are  always  fought  in 
a  glamour,  a  sort  of  moonshine  of  sentiments  and  prej- 
udices, that  change  the  facts  out  of  their  semblance  of 
reality.  It  is  necessary  to  wait  until  all  these  delusions 
have  cleared  away  before  the  truth  can  be  seen. 

The  Confederates  while  at  Bowling  Green  had 
learned  a  part  of  their  lesson  concerning  the  attitude  of 
Kentucky.  They  were  even  better  advised  by  the  re- 
sults of  Bragg's  subsequent  campaign  ;  but  with  many 
the  delusion  that  Kentucky  was  at  heart  a  Southern 
State  still  remained  alive. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PROM   THE   EVACUATION  OF   KENTUCKY  IN   FEBRUARY, 
1862,  TO    THE   BATTLE    OF   PERRYVILLE. 

The  process  of  organizing  Kentucky  troops  in  the 
first  few  months  of  the  period  following  the  overthrow 
of  neutrality  went  on  with  very  great  rapidity.  Al- 
though the  Commonwealth  lost  the  first  flower  of  her 
military  material  by  the  secession  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  State  Guard,  for  with  them  went  those  young  men 
who  had  been  selected  to  form  the  first  levy  of  the 
State,  such  was  the  energy  of  the  work  of  organization, 
that  on  February  18th,  five  months  from  the  time  she 
cast  in  her  lot  with  the  North,  the  State  already  had  in 
the  Federal  army  24,02G  infantry,  4,979  cavalry,  and 
198  artillery  men,  —  a  total  of  29,203  men.  This  does 
not  include  a  large  force  of  Home  Guards,  —  men  who 
were  under  a  certain  discipline,  and  in  a  way  doing 
valuable  work  in  resisting  the  small  cavalry  forays 
which  the  Confederates  were  constantly  making  into 
the  State.  In  this  five  months,  despite  the  depletion 
of  the  population  from  the  going  south  of  a  force  that 
may  be  estimated  at  85,000  men,  the  State  had  propor- 
tionately more  soldiers  in  the  field  than  any  other  Slate 
within  the  Federal  Union. 

In  its  repeated  sessions  the  legislators  gave  little  at- 
tention to  anything  but  the  war;  still  some  of  the  legis- 
lation  is  interesting,  as  showing  that  they  found   time 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.  283 

for  other  considerations.  In  February,  during  the  time 
when  the  battles  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  were 
being  fought,  they  passed  an  important  bill  concerning 
the  organization  of  Transylvania  University,  —  an  insti- 
tution in  which  the  State  had  long  been  deeply  inter- 
ested. They  also  provided  that  the  school  terms  inter- 
rupted by  the  crisis  of  1861  should  be  completed  during 
the  year  1862.  At  this  time  the  war  seemed  to  act  as 
a  needed  stimulus  to  the  energies  of  the  people. 

Now  for  the  first  time  we  find  severe  legislation  di- 
rected against  those  who  had  passed  from  the  State 
into  the  Confederate  army.  Such  persons  were  de- 
clared to  have  expatriated  themselves,  and  were  not  to 
be  restored  to  citizenship  except  by  permission  of  the 
legislature.  The  governor  vetoed  this  bill,  but  it  was 
quickly  passed  over  his  veto.  Legal  proceedings  were 
authorized  to  secure  from  the  so-called  provisional  gov- 
ernment a  portion  of  the  State  taxes  that  it  had  laid 
hands  on  while  the  Confederate  army  held  the  country 
south  of  Green  River.1  A  suit  for  money  against  citi- 
zens in  rebellion  is  a  novelty  in  civil  warfare. 

In  April  came  the  great  battle  of  Shiloh,  or  Pittsburg 
Landing,  —  a  battle  in  which  nearly  every  State  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  had  a  melancholy  interest. 

After  the  capture  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  the 
Federal  army  showed  something  of  the  same  lack  of 
energy  in  their  action  that  the  Confederates  had  done 
in  the  defense  of  these  posts.  A  Federal  force  of  about 
twenty  thousand  men  was  left  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Tennessee  in  a  poor  position,  exposed  to  an  unknown 
force  of  the  enemy  under  the  command  of  General  Al- 
bert Sidney  Johnston.  This  Federal  force  knew  so  lit- 
l  Collins,  i.  101. 


284  KENTUCKY. 

tie  of  the  enemy,  that  on  the  morning  of  April  6th  they 
were  driven  from  their  very  tents  by  an  attack  of  the 
whole  Confederate  army  of  the  Tennessee.  After  a  day 
of  overwhelming  disasters,  that  even  the  persistent  valor 
of  his  best  men  could  in  no  way  stay,  General  Grant's 
army  was  driven  back  upon  the  river  in  nearly  utter 
rout,  with  the  loss  of  nearly  one  fifth  of  the  force  as 
prisoners.  By  great  good  fortune,  while  his  army  was 
scarcely  more  than  the  debris  of  the  command,  and  was 
exposed  to  utter  destruction,  he  was  reinforced  by  Gen- 
eral Buell,  who,  by  a  hurried  march  of  twenty-five  miles, 
one  of  the  finest  feats  of  American  military  history,  suc- 
ceeded in  interposing  his  army  of  twenty  thousand  men 
between  the  wreck  of  Grant's  army  and  the  victorious 
Confederates. 

Thus  what  promised  to  be  an  overwhelming  victory 
for  the  rebel  army  was  turned  into  a  disastrous  defeat, 
through  the  action  of  General  Buell,  whom  we  are  here- 
after to  see  treated  with  most  unmerited  severity,  and 
left  in  his  time  of  trial  without  a  friendly  word  from  the 
man  whom  he  had  saved  from  utter  ruin.  If  Grant's 
army  had  fallen  a  prey  to  the  Confederates,  as  it  would 
certainly  have  done  if  Buell,  acting  on  his  own  sense  of 
the  emergency,  had  not  hastened  with  great  celerity  to 
its  rescue,  all  that  had  been  gained  by  the  victories  at 
Donelson  and  Henry  would  have  been  quickly  lost.  The 
subsequent  movement  of  the  Confederates  into  Ken- 
tucky would  have  been  a  triumphal  march  instead  of 
the  disastrous  series  of  blunders  which  it  came  to  be. 

The  victory  at  Pittsburg  Lauding  was  dearly  bought ; 
no  other  battle  in  which  Kentucky  troops  had  ever  be- 
fore been  engaged  was  so  bloody.  The  Federal  loss  in 
killed  and  wounded  was  about  ten  thousand,  the  Con- 


FROM  DONELSON   TO  PERRYVILLE.  285 

federates  about  the  same,  so  that  the  action  deserves  to 
rank  with  the  greater  battles  of  history.  The  loss  of 
the  Kentucky  troops  was  particularly  severe.  It  is  not 
possible  to  determine  the  precise  number  of  men  from 
this  Commonwealth  engaged  in  the  action.  There  were 
twelve  regiments  from  the  Commonwealth  in  the  Fed- 
eral army,1  amounting  probably  to  a  total  of  about  six 
thousand  men.  Eight  of  these  regiments  showed  a  loss 
of  five  hundred  men  ;  the  loss  in  the  other  regiments  is 
not  traceable.  On  the  Confederate  side  the  loss  of  Ken- 
tucky commands  amounted  to  six  hundred  and  eighty. 
It  is  likely  that  the  total  loss  in  the  Kentucky  com- 
mands amounted  to  about  thirteen  hundred  men,  or 
nearly  two  per  cent,  of  the  men  of  military  age  and  fit- 
ness for  service,  a  dreadfully  heavy  tax. 

This  battle,  so  dear  in  men,  was  practically  without 
consequences;  the  Confederate  army  was  not  followed 
up  ;  its  beaten  but  undismayed  forces  made  their  way  to 
other  fields  of  action.  In  the  months  of  waiting,  while 
the  Federal  commanders  were  trying  to  find  what  they 
wanted  to  do  with  their  victories  on  the  Tennessee  and 
Cumberland,  the  Confederate  government  essayed  a  most 
important  campaign,  which  had  again  for  its  aim  the 
possession  of  Kentucky. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  war  President  Lincoln,  who 
seems  to  have  had  an  excellent  natural  capacity  for  mili- 
tary affairs,  saw  the  supreme  importance  of  that  point 
of  the  Appalachian  Mountains  which  lies  about  Cum- 
berland Gap.  It  is  easily  seen  that  by  way  of  this 
region,  through  which  lies  the  high  road  by  which  the 
settlement  of  Kentucky  was  in  the  main  effected,  the 

1  Collins  gives  the  total  as  sixteen  regiments,  and  sets  the  loss  at 
five  hundred  in  eight  regiments.     See  i.  102. 


286  KENTUCKY. 

Confederate  armies  could  quickly  and  easily  force  them- 
selves on  to  Central  Kentucky.  Besides  this  mountain 
pass,  known  as  Cumberland  Gap,  there  are  several  other 
roads,  all  passing  near  this  gap,  by  which  troops  could 
make  their  way  from  Central  and  Eastern  Tennessee. 

President  Lincoln's  plan  was  to  have  a  railway  con- 
structed to  Cumberland  Gap,  and  that  point  strongly 
fortified,  so  that  an  army  there  might  give  an  element 
of  security  to  Central  Kentucky,  and  threaten  the  rebel 
lines  of  communication  in  Eastern  Tennessee.  His  pro- 
ject, though  excellent  in  its  conception,  was  never  car- 
ried out.  This  part  of  the  State  was  never  provided 
with  any  adequate  defenses.  It  was  always  as  easy  for 
the  Confederate  forces  to  turn  the  Federal  position  on 
its  east  flank  as  it  was  for  the  Federals  to  make  their 
way  by  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  to  the  west 
of  any  force  they  had  in  Tennessee.  The  Confederate 
armies  had  been  subjected  to  incessant  defeat  in  the 
region  adjacent  to  these  rivers.  As  long  as  they  were 
navigable  to  the  Federal  gunboats  and  transports  the 
Confederates  were  at  a  hopeless  disadvantage.  They 
were  at  first  slow  to  perceive  this.  In  fact,  the  use 
of  light  draft  gunboats  extemporized  from  Mississippi 
steamers,  conveying  a  fleet  of  admirably  constructed 
transports,  such  as  that  type  of  vessels  afforded,  was 
an  altogether  new  feature  in  warfare.  Railways  could 
easily  be  broken  by  raiding  parties,  and  at  best  the 
transporting  power  of  a  poorly  constructed  single  track 
railway  was  small.  A  stream  like  the  Tennessee  or 
the  Mississippi,  once  in  the  control  of  gunboats,  could 
not  be  wrested  from  an  enemy's  hands  without  defeating 
their  fleet,  —  an  impossible  task  for  the  Soulh  rn  Con- 
federacy. 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.  28T 

After  the  defeat  of  their  army  at  Shiloh,  the  Con- 
federates were  compelled  for  a  time  to  ahandon  any 
further  effort  to  approach  Kentucky  hy  way  of  Nash- 
ville, and  laid  their  plans  for  an  invasion  on  lines  far 
enough  to  the  east  to  avoid  the  danger  of  being  attacked 
on  their  left  wing  from  the  Federal  forces  in  control  of 
the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  rivers.  The  Confed- 
erate lines  had  been  pushed  south  and  east,  to  near 
Chattanooga,  by  the  advance  of  Buell's  forces.  The 
tide  was  setting  so  strongly  against  them,  that  if  their 
hold  upon  the  Mississippi  Valley. was  to  be  preserved 
they  must  make  another  push  for  Kentucky.  Their 
extreme  need  at  this  time  developed  a  man  who  was 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  characters  of  the  war, 
—  a  man  of  whom  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  he 
created  and  developed  a  new  branch  of  the  military 
art.  John  Hunt  Morgan  was  one  of  the  most  notable 
soldiers  that  the  war  developed.  A  native  of  Alabama, 
he  became  in  his  youth  a  citizen  of  Kentucky  ;  he  was 
a  lieutenant  in  Humphrey  Marshall's  regiment  in  the 
Mexican  War,  and  took  a  part  in  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista,  but  in  no  way  did  he  give  any  promise  of  his 
subsequent  career,  nor  was  his  purely  commercial  life 
from  1847  to  1861  in  the  least  degree  likely  to  arouse 
his  dormant  powers  ;  it  was  spent  in  inaction.  He  was 
a  captain  in  the  State  Guard,  and  escaped  with  his 
command  to  the  Confederate  army.  Early  in  the  war 
he  showed  his  singular  capacity  for  swift  and  effective 
action. 

To  Morgan  may  be  attributed  the  invention  of  the 
raid  in  the  rear  of  the  enemy,  which  became  such  a 
peculiar  feature  in  the  Civil  War.  Used  skillfully,  this 
form  of  operations  showed  itself  to  be  a  most  valuable 


288  KENTUCKY. 

means  for  relieving  the  pressure  brought  about  by  a 
vigorous  advance  of  au  enemy,  when  that  advance  has 
led  him  far  from  his  base.  It  may  fairly  be  said  that 
Morgan's  successes  compelled  the  Federal  army  to  use 
one  fourth  of  its  force  for  rear-guards  that  would  not 
otherwise  have  been  required  for  this  service. 

But  for  its  accomplishment  this  method  of  action  de- 
manded very  peculiar  qualities  in  commander  and  men. 
To  be  successful  the  leader  must  take  no  counsel  of  his 
fears ;  have  very  quick  wits,  a  great  power  of  inven- 
tion, and  a  great  tactical  capacity.  His  subordinates 
must  share  his  qualities,  for  both  in  advance  and  retreat 
the  movements  of  the  force  must  be  often  by  numer- 
ous detachments,  so  as  to  blind  the  enemy  to  his  plans. 
His  men,  too,  must  have  the  power  of  acting  individ- 
ually, and  have  an  absolute  confidence  in  their  chief. 
With  these  conditions  it  is  possible  for  a  horsed  force 
of  three  thousand  men  to  keep  ten  times  their  number 
occupied  in  the  defense  of  depots  and  communications  ; 
they  can  destroy  communications,  capture  weak  posts, 
and  in  a  critical  moment  break  up  the  enemy's  plan  of 
campaign  by  requiring  the  detachment  of  so  many 
troops  that  the  striking  power  is  gone  from  his  army. 
Morgan's  subordinate  officers  were  nearly  all  Kentuck- 
ians,  as  were  by  far  the  greater  part  of  his  men.  Their 
wonderful  work  is  perhaps  the  best  evidence  of  the 
military  capacity  of  this  people.  More  than  any  other 
it  shows  the  peojjle  to  possess  fertility  of  invention,  en- 
durance, and  the  vigor  in  action  demanded  in  success- 
ful war. 

Colonel  Morgan,  after  being  engaged  in  many  expe- 
ditions and  seeing  much  service  in  the  more  southern 
States,  made  his  first  raid  into  Kentucky  in  June,  1862, 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.  289 

on  the  lines  of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Railway  in 
Kentucky ;  he  captured  some  trains  and  a  few  soldiers, 
hut  the  result  was  inconsiderable.  This  with  his  previ- 
ous partisan  work  in  Tennessee  was,  however,  enough 
to  show  the  possibility  of  such  cutting  out  tactics.  Early 
in  June,  with  a  force  of  a  little  less  than  one  thousand 
men,  he  again  entered  Kentucky.  Leaving  Knoxville 
on  the  4th  of  July,  on  the  8th  he  defeated  a  force  of 
250  men  at  Tompkinsville,  Monroe  County;  getting 
possession  of  the  telegraph  wires,  he  sent  false  dis- 
patches to  the  Federal  commanders  so  as  to  open  his 
way  to  the  North.  This  use  of  the  telegraph  to  deceive 
the  enemy  was  a  novelty  in  the  art  of  war,  and  a  re- 
source that  often  served  Morgan  in  his  movements. 
On  the  11th,  he  was  checked  by  a  Federal  force  at 
New  Hope,  in  Nelson  County,  but  on  the  12th  he  cap- 
tured Lebanon  with  a  small  force  stationed  there. 

Morgan  quickly  adopted  the  plan  of  rarely  giving  bat- 
tle if  he  could  possibly  help  it.  More  clearly  than  any 
other  commander  he  recognized  the  limitations  of  his 
activities.  In  a  running  fight  with  the  Home  Guards, 
he  passed  on  to  Harrodsburg,  burning  bridges  and  de- 
stroying the  railway  as  he  went.  Masked  by  a  cloud 
of  skirmishers  which  he  threw  about  him,  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  Federal  commanders  to  determine  his 
force,  which  was  commonly  believed  to  be  several  times 
as  large  as  it  really  was,  or  to  determine  the  direction 
of  his  movements.  He  constantly  used  the  telegraph 
lines  to  magnify  his  forces  in  the  eyes  of  the  Federal 
commanders,  and  to  change  the  disposition  of  their 
troops  to  suit  his  purpose.  Cincinnati  and  Louisville 
were  almost  without  troops,  and  were  greatly  alarmed 
by  the  invasion.  Moving  toward  Cincinnati  so  as  to 
19 


290  KENTUCKY. 

compel  a  Federal  concentration  there,  Morgan  on  the 
17th  captured  Cynthiana,  a  town  about  sixty-five  miles 
south  of  Cincinnati,  despite  the  sturdy  resistance  of  the 
Home  Guards  and  a  part  of  a  newly  organized  regiment 
under  Colonel  Landrum  ;  the  loss  was  about  sixty  men 
on  each  side  in  killed  and  wounded.  At  this  point  he 
destroyed  a  large  amount  of  government  stores.  He 
was  now  pressed  by  a  superior  force  of  Kentucky  cav- 
alry unde*  General  Green  Clay  Smith  and  Colonel 
Wolford,  and  by  them  was  forced  into  a  rapid  retreat  to 
East  Tennessee,  on  which,  however,  he  was  able  to  de- 
stroy a  large  amount  of  government  property.  His  re- 
port shows  that  in  twenty-four  days'  campaign  he  trav- 
eled over  1000  miles,  "captured"  17  towns,  paroled 
about  1,200  regular  troops,  and  lost  in  the  raid  only  90 
of  his  men.1  The  destruction  of  Federal  stores  proba- 
bly amounted  to  over  a  million  dollars  in  value,  and  at 
least  nearly  twenty  thousand  men  were  for  the  time 
tied  to  the  government  posts  they  were  guarding,  or 
occupied  in  pursuing  him. 

From  this  success  came  many  similar  though  less 
spirited  raids  into  Kentucky  under  the  lead  of  inferior 
commanders.  There  were  in  the  next  few  months  many 
small  actions  all  over  the  State,  principally  between 
these  raiders  and  the  Home  Guards.  These  move- 
ments were  but  the  precursors  of  the  last  great  effort 
the  Confederacy  was  about  to  make  to  gain  possession 
of  Kentucky.  Under  the  cover  of  this  cloud  of  raid- 
ing parties  that  forced  back  the  Federal  scouts,  and 
thoroughly  masked  their  movements,  the  Confederate 
army,  which  had  been  gathered  in  East  Tennessee  under 

l  Collins,  i.  p.  104;  also,  Dukes'  History  of  Morgan's  Cavalry,  p. 
182  et  seq. 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.  291 

command  of  Generals  Bragg  and  Kirby  Smith,  ad- 
vanced into  Central  Kentucky.  At  this  time  the  Fed- 
eral forces  in  this  section  of  the  State  consisted  of 
about  ten  thousand  men;  all  except  two  regiments  be- 
ing raw  troops  recently  brought  into  the  State  from 
Ohio  and  Indiana. 

This  force  was  under  the  general  command  of  the  able 
but  erratic  General  William  Nelson.  General  Nelson 
was  an  excellent  division  commander,  as  was  well  proven 
at  Shiloh,  where  he  won  distinguished  credit.  He  was, 
however,  unfitted  by  his  furious  nature  for  indepen- 
dent command.  Nelson  expected  the  attack,  but  was 
surprised  by  the  amazing  swiftness  of  the  Confederate 
advance,  for  in  three  days  they  had  marched  nearly 
ninety  miles.  Nelson  himself  was  at  Lexington,  when  he 
should  have  been  with  his  army.  About  all  his  force, 
consisting  of  Manson's  and  Cruft's  brigades,  amounting 
to  about  seven  thousand  men,  were  posted  in  Richmond 
when  the  Federal  pickets  gave  a  brief  warning  of  the 
enemy's  approach.  There  were  only  these  two  inex- 
perienced brigadiers  with  their  raw  troops  to  meet  the 
Confederate  force.  The  senior  and  commanding  officer, 
Manson,  believing  that  he  had  only  to  deal  with  one  of 
the  numerous  raiding  parties  of  the  enemy,  moved  out 
with  his  own  brigade,  leaving  Cruft  in  Richmond. 

At  Rogersville,  a  few  miles  beyond  Richmond,  he  re- 
pulsed the  vanguard  of  the  Confederate  army.  After 
the  night  came,  he,  still  thinking  that  he  had  to  deal 
with  a  small  body  which  he  had  easily  beaten,  ad- 
vanced still  further  away  from  his  supports  in  Rich- 
mond. In  this  more  advanced  position  he  became  on 
the  following  day  engaged  with  the  whole  of  Kirby 
Smith's  army,  more  than  double  his  force.    For  the  mo- 


292  KENTUCKY. 

merit  it  went  well  with  him,  for  Kirby  Smith  detached 
half  his  force  under  General  Churchill  to  execute  a 
flank  movement.  This  body  missed  its  way  and  did  not 
at  first  take  part  in  the  action.'  Hanson's  force,  although 
it  was  their  first  action,  did  gallant  duty.  Cleburne,  the 
ablest  of  the  Confederate  generals,  was  wounded,  and  the 
Confederate  advance  stayed.  Then  at  last  Churchill 
found  the  right  wing  of  Manson's  brigade,  broke  it, 
and  although  General  Cruft  came  up  with  a  regiment 
and  two  batteries  of  the  force  that  had  been  left  in  Rich- 
mond, the  exhaustion  of  the  Federal  ammunition  in  the 
regiments  most  hotly  engaged,  and  the  disorder  of  the 
troops  on  the  right,  made  it  impossible  to  resist  the  re- 
peated assaults  of  the  veteran  enemy.  Hanson  ordered 
a  retreat  to  Rogersville,  hoping  to  reform  there  under 
the  protection  of  the  remainder  of  Cruft's  force  that  was 
marching  towards  him.  Retreating  to  this  point,  the 
Federal  commands  reformed  in  good  shape,  but  after  an 
hour's  fighting  their  right  was  again  turned,  and  the  de- 
moralized force  driven  back  into  Richmond.  There 
they  met  General  Nelson,  who,  raging  like  a  wounded 
lion,  tried  to  restore  a  line  of  battle.  A  small  part  of 
the  force  again  gallantly  rallied,  but  only  for  a  brief  re- 
sistance ;  they  were  quickly  broken  by  the  Confederates, 
and  almost  all  of  the  men  captured.  Nelson  was  an 
hour  too  late ;  the  tide  of  fugitives  swept  back  towards 
the  bridge  over  the  Kentucky  River.  For  a  little  while 
it  seemed  as  if  they  were  safe ;  the  Confederate  infantry 
was  too  much  exhausted  by  the  long  and  fierce  fighting 
for  further  pursuit. 

But  even  this  chance  of  safety  for  the  broken  army 
was  to  be  lost.  Colonel  Scott,  commanding  Kirby 
Smith's  cavalry,  who  had  been  marching  on  a  detour 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.         293 

to  the  west  to  secure  the  infantry  column  against  any 
movement  on  its  flank,  struck  the  road  in  front  of  the 
rout  of  the  utterly  broken  but  not  dismayed  army. 
General  Manson,  with  a  hundred  men,  tried  to  beat 
them  off,  but  was  soon  overcome.  All  the  artillery  and 
trains  and  three  thousand  prisoners  fell  into  the  Con- 
federate hands.  The  remainder  scattered  through  the 
woods  and  by-paths  in  utter  rout  and  confusion.  The 
debris  of  the  defeated  army  came  out  to  the  Ohio  River, 
all  the  way  from  the  Little  Sandy  River  to  Louisville, 
a  line  three  hundred  miles  in  length. 

In  no  other  case  during  the  war  was  an  army  so 
completely  annihilated  in  a  single  day's  battle.  Gen- 
eral Nelson,  himself  wounded,  escaped,  but  the  greater 
part  of  his  officers  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
The  Federal  loss  is  not  known  with  certainty ;  it  was 
probably  about  300  killed,  600  wounded,  and  about 
3,500  prisoners.  The  Confederates  lost  250  killed  and 
700  wounded.  It  is  manifest  that  the  Federal  troops, 
though  raw,  ou  the  whole  behaved  with  remarkable 
steadiness  in  the  face  of  the  larger  and  veteran  force 
that  they  resisted  so  long.  The  battle  does  not  deserve 
the  opprobrious  names  that  have  been  given  to  it.  A 
raw  force  of  7,000,  under  inexperienced  commanders, 
had  held  its  own  for  hours  against  twice  its  number  of 
the  best  Confederate  troops.  But  for  Scott's  luck  in 
striking  the  road  of  their  retreat,  their  disorder  would 
have  been  by  no  means  overwhelming,  and  on  the  line 
of  the  Kentucky  River  they  might  have  fought  again. 

Although  the  Confederates  had  suffered  heavily,  their 
victory  was  full  of  promise.  They  had  beaten  the  only 
organized  troops  in  Kentucky.  General  Buell,  the  de- 
partment commander,  still  holdiug   to  the   notion  that 


294  KENTUCKY. 

Bragg,  with  his  army  of  40,000  men,  intended  to  strike 
him  in  Central  Tennessee,  had  made  no  preparations 
to  meet  this  unexpected  movement  of  his  enemy  into 
Kentucky.  Kirby  Smith  now  had  command  of  about 
10,000  men,  who  in  their  triumph  forgot  the  fatigues  of 
their  forced  march.  The  redoubtable  Morgan's  force 
was  hastening  to  his  support.  There  was  a  wide  field 
of  action  before  him. 

While  Buell  was  awaiting  the  Confederate  attack 
in  Eastern  Tennessee,  Bragg,  encouraged  by  Kirby 
Smith's  successes,  and  well  informed  as  to  the  exposed 
position  of  Kentucky,  began  his  march  across  the  Ten- 
nessee table-land  to  enter  Kentucky.  It  was  desirable 
for  him  to  threaten  Nashville  in  order  to  delay  Buell's 
movement  towards  Kentucky.  This  he  accomplished 
by  moving  westward  on  the  Knoxville  and  Nashville 
turnpike  to  the  village  of  Carthage,  from  which  point 
he  turned  northward  into  Kentucky.  Moreover,  by 
this  route  he  gained  new  and  richer  foraging  ground  by 
which  to  supply  his  army  on  the  march,  Eastern  Ken- 
tucky not  offering  supplies  for  so  large  an  army. 

When  Bragg  entered  Kentucky,  Buell's  force  was 
massed  between  Murfreesboro  and  Nashville.  By  this 
movement  Bragg  placed  himself  so  near  the  line  of 
Buell's  communications  with  Central  Kentucky  that  he 
might  hinder,  by  his  raiding  parties,  his  enemy's  effort 
to  get  north  on  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Railway. 
It  was  not  until  Bragg  actually  turned  north  into  Ken- 
tucky that  Buell  had  a  right  to  feel  sure  that  his  ob- 
ject was  not  to  fight  in  Tennessee.  So  far  Bragg's 
movement  was  skillfully  contrived,  and  it  is  hard  to  see 
how  it  could  have  been  met  by  Buell  in  any  more  sat- 
isfactory way,  though  if  Bragg's  object  had  been  to  seize 


FROM  DON  ELS  ON  TO  PERRYVILLE.  295 

Louisville  or  Cincinnati,  he  had  wasted  time  in  march- 
ing so  far  westward,  for  he  could  have  hastened  Buell's 
retrograde  movement  equally  well  by  means  of  powerful 
detachments  of  cavalry,  of  which  he  had  a  large  force. 
As  we  shall  see,  the  eight  days  that  Bragg  spent  in 
this  movement,  which  was  intended  to  threaten  Nash- 
ville, was  probably  the  cause  of  his  failure  in  his  main 
object,  which  we  may  presume  to  have  been  the  capture 
of  Louisville  and  Cincinnati  and  the  gaining  a  good 
position  in  Kentucky.1 

Even  after  he  had  made  his  westward  march,  Bragg's 
advance  was  exceedingly  dilatory.  On  September  12th 
his  infantry  advance  force  was  only  at  Glasgow,  having 
marched  very  easily  all  the  preceding  week.  Veteran 
men  could  not  have  been  worn  down  by  their  slow 
marching  and  in  need  of  the  rest  he  gave  them.  Bragg 
had  now  lost  at  least  ten  precious  days.  Though  sin- 
gularly well  placed  for  giving  quick  blows,  he  was  pur- 

1  The  Comte  de  Paris  thinks  that  Bragg  moved  west  in  order  to 
have  the  advantage  of  a  turnpike.  This  was  not  at  all  necessary  for 
his  movement.  He  could  easily  have  gone  into  Kentucky  by  way  of 
Big  Creek  Gap,  the  route  pursued  by  Kirby  Smith,  and  he  would 
thereby  have  saved  a  week  of  precious  time.  It  is  likely  that  in  part 
his  aim  was  to  secure  a  way  through  a  region  that  would  forage  his 
army.  But  the  principal  reason  for  this  movement  was  doubtless  the 
hope  that  he  might  be  able  to  capture  Nashville  by  a  sudden  assault. 
Bragg  had  with  him  the  Confederate  government  of  Tennessee.  If  by 
any  chance  he  could  regain  Nashville  and  reestablish  the  Confederate 
State  authority  in  that  place,  he  would  be  in  a  much  stronger  posi- 
tion for  his  Kentucky  campaign.  At  this  time  Bragg  had  upon  his 
staff  as  aid  Colonel  J.  Stoddard  Johnston,  a  nephew  of  General  Albert 
Sidney  Johnston.  Colonel  Johnston  was,  in  the  main,  the  originator 
of  the  plan  of  this  campaign.  He  urged  upon  his  chief  the  necessity 
of  vigor  in  its  prosecution,  but  Bragg  seems  to  have  been  paralyzed 
by  (lie  magnitude  of  the  undertaking  he  had  set  about.  A  com- 
mander of  vigor  in  lesser  operations  of  war,  he  now  moved  like  a  man 
in  a  dream. 


296  KENTUCKY. 

sued  by  a  powerful  enemy  under  the  command  of  an 
able  general,  who  though  slow  to  move  was  extremely 
careful  of  his  steps  and  never  blundered  into  danger. 
Bragg's  project  was,  in  its  motive,  a  raid  in  force  re- 
sembling, in  a  way,  Morgan's  exploits,  and  controlled 
by  the  same  need  of  swiftness  in  action.  If  his  whole 
army  could  not  be  carried  rapidly  forward  it  should 
have  been  divided,  —  a  rear-guard  left  to  resist  Buell's 
northward  movement,  and  the  remainder  hurried  for- 
ward for  a  junction  with  Kirby  Smith's  victorious  troops, 
who  only  needed  a  little  help  to  secure  both  Louisville 
and  Cincinnati. 

At  the  crossing  of  the  Green  River,  Bragg  found 
himself  opposed  by  a  force  of  3,500  men,  under  the 
command  of  General  Wilder.  This  officer  was  in- 
trenched in  a  position  that  commanded  the  crossing  of 
the  railway  and  turnpike  road.  An  effort  was  made  to 
carry  this  position  by  assault,  but  failed.  Bragg  was 
then  three  days  in  investing  and  reducing  this  work, 
and  forcing  it  to  surrender.  He  won  it  on  the  16th. 
This  position  could  have  been  left  with  its  garrison 
without  delaying  the  Confederate  march  more  than 
a  few  hours.  When  Bragg  should  have  been  the  mas- 
ter of  Louisville,  he  was  occupying  himself  in  captur- 
ing this  petty  stronghold. 

Kirby  Smith,  whose  army  had  now  been  increased 
by  a  force  of  several  thousand  under  General  Heth, 
was  now  well  up  to  the  line  of  the  Ohio  before  Louis- 
ville and  Cincinnati.  He  had  a  force  near  each  of 
these  points  strong  enough  to  tempt  him  to  an  assault, 
but  was  restrained  by  the  orders  of  Bragg.  Two 
courses  were  now  open  to  General  Bragg ;  despite  his 
delays  he  was  still  a  good  four  days  ahead  of  the  north- 


FROM  DONELSON   TO  PERRYVILLE.  297 

ward  moving  army  under  Buell.  He  could  have  turned 
sharply  to  the  south,  struck  the  Federal  force,  fatigued 
with  its  long  marches,  and  drawn  out  of  battle  order  by 
the  need  of  movement  over  several  parallel  roads  ;  or 
he  could  have  still  pushed  northward,  captured  Louis- 
ville or  Cincinnati,  and  gathering  support  from  Kirby 
Smith  and  Heth,  have  given  battle  to  Buell  with  su- 
perior numbers.  But  General  Bragg,  though  an  excel- 
lent artillery  officer,  found  the  position  he  now  occupied 
too  complicated  for  his  powers.  In  his  place  Stonewall 
Jackson  would  have  beaten  the  army  of  Buell  in  detail, 
and  thus  won  the  possession  of  Kentucky  for  the  Con- 
federacy ;  as  it  was,  he  fell  between  two  lines  of  bril- 
liant and  promising  action  ;  he  turned  to  the  eastward 
on  the  road  to  Lexington,  gathering  ponderous  trains  of 
supplies  from  the  rich  country  as  he  went,  and  allowed 
Buell  to  move  on  to  Louisville,  which  he  entered  on 
September  29th.  So  slow  was  Bragg's  movement  that 
he  took  sixteen  days  to  march  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  between  the  Green  River,  at  the  point 
where  he  crossed  it,  and  Lexington,  a  march  that  could 
easily  have  been  made  in  nine  days. 

In  order  to  see  the  imminent  peril  of  Kentucky  at 
this  time,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  the  conditions 
at  Cincinnati  and  Louisville  while  they  were  threatened 
by  the  armies  of  Generals  Bragg,  Heth,  and  Kirby 
Smith.  Bragg's  possession  of  the  latter  point  would 
have  placed  Buell's  army  in  a  hopeless  position  ;  he 
would  have  been  compelled  to  find  his  way  to  the  Ohio, 
at  some  point  where  he  could  have  opened  new  commu- 
nications. This  would  have  been,  in  the  face  of  a  vic- 
torious and  vigilant  enemy,  a  serious  difficulty  even  for 
a  commander  of  Buell's  great  ability. 


298  KENTUCKY. 

As  before  noted,  the  army  of  General  Kirby  Smith 
had  the  roads  to  the  Ohio  wide  open  to  where  the  force 
under  General  Nelson  was  scattered  at  Richmond.  Af- 
ter that  signal  victory  he  was  reinforced  by  Heth  and 
Morgan  ;  with  these  added  forces  General  Smith  imme- 
diately closed  down  on  Cincinnati  and  Louisville.  At 
the  moment  when  the  Confederate  forces  appeared  be- 
fore these  cities  they  could  easily  have  been  taken  by 
assault,  and  thereby  the  base  of  supplies  of  the  army 
of  the  Tennessee  would  have  fallen  into  the  Confed- 
erate hands.  Heth's  force  threatening  Cincinnati, 
amounting  to  not  over  nine  thousand  men,  occupied  a 
commanding  position  within  five  miles  of  Cincinnati, 
which  was  practically  undefended.  When  he  first  set 
down  before  that  city  there  were  no  troops  that  were 
likely  to  be  useful  in  action  to  oppose  him.  The  de- 
fenses consisted  of  a  few  weak  unconnected  redoubts, 
mounting  about  a  dozen  pieces  of  siege  artillery,  along 
a  line  nearly  ten  miles  in  length.  This  line  was  pene- 
trable at  many  points  where  it  could  not  be  swept  by 
the  fire  of  these  guns.  The  surface  of  the  country  con- 
sists of  sharp  ridges  and  deep,  interlaced  valleys,  re- 
quiring a  very  extensive  system  of  fortifications  to  make 
it  secure.  Moreover,  there  were  no  gunners  trained  to 
the  use  of  such  pieces  of  artillery  as  were  available, 
which  require  especial  skill  to  make  them  effective 
against  a  well  managed  assault.  There  was,  at  the 
moment,  hardly  a  single  regiment  on  the  ground  that 
could  have  been  trusted  to  be  steady  in  the  open  field. 
The  force  there  was  altogether  of  newly  enlisted  troops, 
with  no  confidence  in  their  officers,  and  with  a  great 
and  well  founded  fear  of  the  rebel  prowess. 

On   the  report  of   Kirby  Smith's   northward  march 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYV1LLE.  299 

from  Lexington  the  States  north  of  the  Ohio  were  pro- 
foundly stirred.  Thousands  of  volunteers,  with  domes- 
tic arms,  but  without  organization  or  discipline,  flocked 
to  Cincinnati  and  Louisville.  At  Cincinnati  the  com- 
mand fell  to  General  Lew  Wallace,  an  officer  of  singu- 
lar energy  in  the  work  of  organization.  By  him  the 
city  was  at  once  placed  under  martial  law,  and  nearly 
every  man  in  it  set  to  work  upon  the  fortifications  ;  in 
about  thirty-six  hours  the  detached  redoubts  were  con- 
nected by  rifle  pits,  behind  which  the  "  squirrel  hun- 
ters,'' as  the  volunteers  were  termed,  found  a  position 
where  it  was  hoped  they  could  make  some  resistance. 
It  is  doubtful  if  ever  before  a  line  of  fortifications  of 
such  length  was  constructed  with  such  rapidity.  Still, 
when,  on  September  6th,  Kirby  Smith's  force  arrived 
within  sight  of  the  fortifications,  the  defenses  were  in- 
complete, and  the  horde  of  unformed  citizens  in  the 
trenches,  mingled  with  the  half-armed,  undisciplined,  un- 
commanded  militia,  would  have  given  way  before  such 
a  charge  as  the  men  who  won  the  battle  of  Richmond 
could  easily  have  made. 

Until  the  morning  of  September  8th,  General  Kirby 
Smith  could  have  broken  this  line  with  the  loss  of  a 
few  score  of  men.  Once  within  the  defenses  the  very 
numbers  of  the  mob  engaged  in  the  defense  would  have 
made  his  victory  the  more  certain.  There  was  no  sec- 
ond line  of  defense,  and  the  only  line  of  retreat  was  by 
way  of  the  single  pontoon  bridge  over  the  Ohio.  It 
was  quite  possible  for  the  Confederates  to  capture  the 
whole  force.  But  the  lethargy  that  had  come  with 
Bragg's  assumption  of  the  command  paralyzed  Kirby 
Smith  and  his  able  lieutenant,  Heth. 

While  those  scenes  of  confusion,  so  tempting  to  the 


300  KENTUCKY. 

vigorous  spirits  of  dashing  commanders,  were  going  on 
at  Cincinnati,  similar  conditions  prevailed  at  Louisville. 
A  throng  of  willing  hut  unorganized  citizens  was  all 
that  intervened  between  Bragg's  force  and  the  immense 
stores  that  had  been  gathered  for  the  supply  of  Buell's 
army.  After  remaining  six  days  in  front  of  Cincinnati, 
restrained  from  action  by  the  orders  of  the  slow  moving 
Bragg,  General  Heth  was  ordered  back  to  Lexington 
to  effect  a  junction  with  Bragg.  About  the  same  time 
Kirby  Smith  also  fell  back  from  his  advanced  positions 
towards  Bragg's  army.  Although  the  Confederates 
thus  lost  the  golden  opportunity  of  doing  great  things 
for  their  cause,  the  Federal  inaction  was  almost  equally 
blundering.  When,  on  September  9th,  Kirby  Smith, 
with  not  more  than  nine  thousand  men,  was  within  sight 
of  Cincinnati,  the  Federal  force  behind  the  fortifications 
amounted  to  over  thirty  thousand  men.  At  least  one 
third  of  these  were  veteran  soldiers  belonging  to  com- 
mands which  had  been  hastily  sent  from  the  West. 
Heth's  position  was  in  the  apex  of  a  triangle,  two 
sides  of  which  were  formed  by  the  sharp  northward 
bend  of  the  Ohio  River.  The  fortifications  were  now 
in  such  shape  that  they  could  have  been  safely  trusted 
to  one  third  of  this  force.  With  the  remainder,  or  say 
twenty  thousand  men,  the  Federal  commander  could 
have  easily  overwhelmed  and  captured  the  little  Con- 
federate army. 

While  these  vacillating  and  abortive  movements  were 
under  way,  Buell  was  steadily  and  certainly  creeping 
along  lines  a  few  miles  to  the  west  of  Bragg's  army, 
towards  Louisville.  He  had  to  subsist,  in  the  main, 
from  the  country,  and  therefore  was  compelled  to  move 
with  divided  forces  in  several  roads.     A  quick  move- 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.  301 

ment  of  Bragg's  forces,  after  they  had  united  with 
Smith,  would  have  enahled  him  to  strike  Buell  with 
superior  numbers,  while  he  was  drawn  out  in  this  dan- 
gerous way  by  the  needs  of  his  march.  There  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  he  could  have  beaten  him  in  detail, 
and  forced  the  remnants  of  his  army  into  the  forests  of 
Western  Kentucky,  where  there  would  have  been  no 
subsistence  for  it. 

When  Buell  got  to  Louisville  on  the  25th  of  Septem- 
ber, Bragg  had  lost  his  last  opportunity  of  effective 
action  in  this  momentous  campaign. 

As  soon  as  Buell's  army  was  within  the  strong  de- 
fenses of  Louisville,  Bragg's  position  changed  for  one 
that  gave  unbounded  opportunities  of  attack  to  a  purely 
defensive  attitude.  Buell's  force  was  increased  by  a 
valuable  l'einforcement  sent  by  river  from  Corinth, 
Miss.,  and  by  new  and  willing  recruits  from  the  North, 
until  it  amounted  to  one  hundred  thousand  men,  about 
one  half  being  raw  troops,  the  remainder  seasoned  vet- 
erans of  that  capital  material  which  formed  the  early 
regiments  of  the  Western  States.  Taking  four  days  to 
reorganize  and  recruit  his  troops,  none  too  much  for  the 
needed  repair  of  his  army  before  it  set  out  on  another 
long  campaign,  Buell  prepared  to  take  the  offensive. 

On  the  day  appointed  for  his  marching,  an  order 
came  for  him  to  turn  over  his  command  to  General 
George  H.  Thomas,  one  of  his  corps  commanders.  At 
Thomas's  own  earnest  intercession  this  order  was  re- 
voked, but  the  discussion  caused  a  delay  of  a  day  in 
the  movements  of  the  army,  and  the  incident  did  much 
to  diminish  the  effective  control  of  Buell  over  his  troops. 
The  Washington  authorities  seemed  to  have  a  genius 
for  removals  at  the  most  critical  moments  of  campaigns. 


302  KENTUCKY. 

If  Buell  was  to  be  removed,  the  action  should  have 
come  as  soon  as  he  reached  Louisville. 

At  this  time  Bragg,  having  wasted  the  last  opportu- 
nities of  fortune,  seems  to  have  abandoned  all  expecta- 
tion of  doing  more  than  effecting  a  retreat  which  should 
be  slow  enough  to  give  time  for  his  enormous  trains, 
full  of  the  booty  of  war  material  and  provisions  that 
he  had  gorged  himself  with,  to  creep  into  East  Tennes- 
see. To  do  this  effectively  he  had  determined,  as  far 
as  he  was  capable  of  determination,  to  hold  against 
Buell's  advance  the  rectangular  line  formed  by  the  Ken- 
tucky River  and  Dick's  River,  a  steep-banked  tributary 
of  the  Kentucky,  that  falls  into  it  not  far  from  Lex- 
ington. This  was  a  naturally  strong  position,  and  was 
the  stronger  by  the  fact  that  an  extraordinary  drought 
had  made  it  nearly  impossible  for  Buell's  army  to  find 
water  away  from  the  main  streams.  For  nearly  a  month 
every  military  movement  was  hampered  by  this  diffi- 
culty. There  was  hardly  a  march  of  Bragg's  or  Buell's 
army  that  was  not  in  part  determined  by  this  unprece- 
dented drought. 

In  his  retreat  Bragg  proved  by  his  movements  that 
he  was  nearly  as  incompetent  in  defense  as  in  attack. 
In  the  first  place,  he  assumed  that  the  Federal  force 
would  march  by  way  of  Fraukfort,  a  path  that  would 
have  placed  Buell's  army  in  great  difficulties  because 
of  the  rugged  nature  of  the  country  caused  by  the 
deeply  iucised  streams  that  enter  the  Kentucky  River 
in  that  district.  In  this  he  reckoned  without  his  host. 
Buell  took  the  simpler  and  more  effective  plan  of  mov- 
ing towards  Dick's  River  by  way  of  Bardstown  and 
Lebauon,  where  he  had  a  plain  country  to  traverse,  — 
one  not  affording  strong  positions    to    an  enemy,  and 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.  303 

affording  ground  for  a  well-developed  battle  ;  moreover, 
he  secured  by  his  route  possession  of  a  reasonably  good 
railway,  that  needed  but  little  repair  to  serve  for  the 
transportation  of  his  supplies.  This  movement  had  also 
the  advantage  that  it  brought  his  army  well  on  the 
flank  of  Bragg's  coarse  in  his  intended  retreat. 

While  Bragg,  assuming  that  Buell  would  advance  by 
way  of  Frankfort,  was  effecting  a  concentration  near 
Lexington,  Buell  was  slowly  moving  upon  his  flank. 
It  is  likely  that  Bragg's  desire  to  remain  north  of  the 
Kentucky  River  was  in  part  due  to  his  anxiety  to  carry 
out  a  political  manoeuvre  that  was  then  under  way.  As 
soon  as  the  Confederates  obtained  possession  of  Frank- 
fort they  had  a  long-desired  opportunity  of  giving  some 
semblance  of  fact  to  the  provisional  government  in  Ken- 
tucky, by  installing  their  officers  in  the  State  capital. 
It  took  some  time  to  gather  this  ghost  of  a  government 
at  the  capital,  and  to  go  through  the  form  of  electing 
and  inaugurating  a  successor  as  governor  to  Colonel 
Johnson,  who  had  met  a  soldier's  death  at  Shiloh. 

Buell  was  in  motion  before  the  preliminaries  to  the 
induction  ceremonies  were  under  way.  Just  as  the 
new  governor  was  making  his  speech  Sill's  division, 
sent  out  as  a  flanking  party  of  Buell's  march,  began  to 
fire  on  the  town.  The  flowing  periods  of  Governor 
Hawes  were  interrupted,  and  with  his  staff  he  was  driven 
through  the  tunnel  near  the  capital  on  his  way  to  Lex- 
ington. It  was  probably  to  complete  this  political  farce 
that  Bragg  had  loitered  with  a  large  part  of  his  army 
about  Lexington  and  Frankfort,  as  he  for  a  similar 
purpose  had  loitered  near  Nashville,  when  he  should 
have  been  concentrating  his  forces  to  meet  the  mena- 
cing flank  movement  of  the  Federal   army.     This  he 


304  KENTUCKY. 

endeavored  to  effect  when  it  was  too  late  to  get  the 
profit  of  it.  Buell's  forces  were  now  in  a  tolerably 
compact  series  of  columns  near  Lebanon,  marching  by 
parallel  roads  towards  Dick's  River.  If  his  army  had 
not  contained  a  large  portion  of  raw  troops,  who  had 
not  yet  been  trained  in  marching,  and  who  were  worn 
out  by  the  heat  and  dust,  he  would  have  been  able  to 
interpose  his  army  between  Bragg  and  bis  line  of  re- 
treat. 

On  October  8th  the  Federal  columns  were  all  within 
easy  supporting  distance  of  each  other,  a  few  miles  west 
of  Perryville.  The  advance  was  at  Doctor's  Fork,  a 
small  stream  now  reduced  by  the  drought  to  a  few 
pools  of  stagnant  water.  The  line  of  this  stream  was 
occupied  by  Sheridan's  division,  whose  outposts  were 
posted  only  a  little  distance  beyond  the  stream.  The 
wooded  nature  of  the  country  prevented  any  distant 
view,  and  the  men  were  too  much  exhausted  for  a  vig- 
orous reconnaissance ;  still  it  was  a  mistake  to  rest  over 
night  in  the  face  of  dangers  that  even  a  trifling  scout 
would  have  revealed.  The  failure  to  make  this  recon- 
naissance was  the  only  serious  mistake  that  can  be 
charged  against  the  Federal  commander.  It  was  a  mis- 
take, but  one  more  visible  in  the  retrospect  than  at  the 
time  when  it  was  made. 

When  the  Federal  force  camped  in  the  order  of  bat- 
tle, the  low  heights  near  Perryville,  only  two  miles 
away,  were  occupied  by  a  large  part  of  Bragg's  force, 
perhaps  one  third  of  his  army,  amounting  to  about  fif- 
teen thousand  men  under  Hardee,  which  was  then  about 
receiving  reinforcement  from  Cheatham's  division, 
which  gave  him  about  thirty-three  thousand  men.  The 
Federal  force,  within  attacking  distance,  amounted  to 


FROM  D0NEL80N  TO  PERRYVILLE.  305 

about  fifty-eight  thousand  men.  If  a  reconnaissance 
had  been  made,  the  weakness  of  the  Confederate  force 
could  probably  have  been  ascertained,  and  it  would  have 
been  possible  on  the  following  day  to  have  over- 
whelmed their  force  with  numbers.  As  it  was,  Buell 
acted  on  the  supposition  that  he  had  the  whole  Confed- 
erate army  before  him,  and  took  time  to  close  his  col- 
umns well  together  that  he  might  be  ready  for  the 
struggle  of  the  morrow. 

This  concentration  was  difficult  on  account  of  want 
of  water  and  the  forest-clad  surface  of  the  country.  A 
similar  error  was  made  by  the  Confederates.  They 
supposed  that  they  were  dealing  with  an  inferior  de- 
tached force  which  they  hoped  to  overwhelm  before  its 
supports  arrived.  They  probably  supposed  that  the 
main  Federal  army  had  gone  to  drive  the  Hawes  gov- 
ernment out  of  Frankfort.  It  is  evident  that  they  re- 
garded Hawes'  presence  at  the  Kentucky  capital  as  a 
very  important  matter,  —  one  well  deserving  General 
Buell's  entire  attention. 

Buell's  order  of  battle  was  necessarily  controlled  by 
the  generally  wooded  condition  of  the  country,  which 
greatly  impeded  the  formation  of  his  lines.  Critten- 
den's force  was  on  the  extreme  south,  cut  off  by  a  wide 
interval  from  the  other  forces;  Gilbert's  corps,  which 
included  Sheridan's  division  in  the  centre  and  Mitchell's 
division,  farther  to  the  north  or  left ;  on  the  extreme 
left  was  McCook's  admirable  corps. 

There  was  no  expectation  of  a  battle  on  that  day  al- 
though the  line  was  formed  for  it.  In  the  budget  of 
misconceptions,  the  Federal  commander  doubtless  sup- 
posed that  the  Confederates  knew  that  the  force  before 
them  was  the  main  army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  that 
20 


306  KENTUCKY. 

they  would  take  all  the  time  he  would  give  them  for 
concentration  and  defense. 

The  battle  began  about  noon  of  October  8th  by  a 
cannonade,  which  did  not  seem  to  presage  any  serious 
action.  Such  artillery  engagements  were  in  those  days 
common  enough  between  forces  which  lay  over  against 
each  other.  The  Federal  commanders  prepared  not  for 
immediate  action,  but  for  an  attack  they  meant  to  de- 
liver on  the  following  day  after  their  troops  had  much 
needed  rest.  The  force  was  in  good  shape  for  an  ad- 
vance, and  an  attack  at  the  moment  would  have  brought 
the  whole  of  Buell's  army  against  less  than  one  half  of 
Bragg's.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Confederates,  equally 
ill  advised  concerning  the  force  of  the  enemy,  had  de- 
termined on  an  attack,  which  they  delivered  suddenly 
and  with  crushing  force.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon they  began  their  assault  on  the  right  of  the  Fed- 
eral line,  composed  of  the  brigades  of  Lytle  and  Harris  ; 
on  this  force  they  made  no  impression,  but  yet  farther 
to  the  right,  where  Buckner's  attack  was  masked  by  a 
wood,  it  struck  Thrill's  brigade  with  such  overwhelming 
force  that  the  Federal  line  immediately  gave  way.  The 
Federal  troops  on  this  part  of  the  line  were  all  raw,  and 
though  Generals  Jackson  and  Tirrill  were  both  killed 
in  their  efforts  to  maintain  their  lines,  this  part  of  the 
Federal  force  was  utterly  routed  with  a  loss  of  eleven 
pieces  of  artillery.  Webster's  brigade  of  Jackson's  di- 
vision succeeded  for  a  moment  in  checking  the  utter 
rout  of  the  broken  line.  Here  General  Webster  fell, 
and  his  troops  were  driven  back. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Confederates  they  had  not 
shaken  Sheridan's  force,  which  lay  on  the  left  or  the 
south  of  their  attack.     His  well  posted  and  well  secured 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.  307 

artillery  enfiladed  their  advancing  lines,  and  compelled 
thern  to  settle  with  him  before  they  followed  up  their 
advantage.  Sheridan's  position  gave  his  men  the  shelter 
of  some  woods,  while  the  Confederates  advancing  to 
the  attack  had  to  cross  open  fields  ;  though  the  Con- 
federate attack  was  heavily  reinforced  by  two  brigades 
of  Cheatham's  division,  their  gallant  and  repeated 
charges  failed  to  shake  Sheridan's  veteran  regiments. 
The  other  end  of  the  broken  Federal  line  was  rein- 
forced by  a  brigade  of  Mitchell's  division,  which  was 
sent  to  aid  McCook,  whose  position  the  Confederates 
were  endeavoring  to  turn.  Despite  the  loss  of  its  com- 
mander, General  Gooding  and  one  third  of  its  force,  it 
materially  aided  McCook  to  retain  his  position  until 
night  fell,  and  this  furious  action  came  to  an  end. 

Although  the  Federal  force  lost  a  dozen  pieces  of 
artillery,  and  for  a  time  was  beaten,  it  in  the  end  gained 
on  the  enemy.  They  were  driven  beyond  Chaplin 
Creek  and  through  Perryville.  If  the  repulse  had  been 
followed  up  by  the  Federal  force,  some  important  re- 
sults might  have  been  obtained. 

By  some  blunder  of  the  staff  officers,  General  Buell, 
who  was  some  distance  from  the  front,  was  not  informed 
of  this  action  until  two  hours  after  the  Confederate  at- 
tack began,  nor  did  Crittenden  know  that  there  was 
anything  of  importance  going  on  ;  the  thick  forests  be- 
tween the  roads  prevented  the  sound  of  musketry  reach- 
ing any  distance,  and  both  the  Federal  commander  and 
his  lieutenant,  Crittenden,  supposed  that  the  artillery 
firing  was  but  a  meaningless  skirmish  between  batteries 
that  did  not  mark  an  action  of  any  moment.  But  for 
this  unaccountable  failure  of  the  intelligence  of  the  ac- 
tion to  come  at  once  to  Buell,  he  could  easily  have  by 


308  KENTUCKY. 

a  counter-attack  pushed  Hardee  to  the  wall  before  the 
darkness  had  fallen.  As  it  was,  the  chapter  of  blunders 
that  marks  this  battle  had  its  completion  in  the  failure 
of  the  Federal  commander  to  know  of  it  until  it  was 
half  over. 

The  retirement  of  the  enemy,  and  the  coming  of  the 
night  made  it  ill  advised  for  Buell,  at  the  late  hour  when 
he  learned  of  the  action,  to  make  any  movement  until 
the  following  day.  Had  he  known  that  Bragg,  though 
present  himself,  had  but  half  his  army  with  him,  it  would 
have  been  possible  to  have  pushed  forward  his  unshaken 
troops,  and,  taking  advantage  of  the  few  hours  of  day, 
he  misjht  have  carried  the  Confederate  position.  But 
the  heavy  blow  he  had  received  made  him  more  than 
ever  convinced  that  he  had  to  reckon  with  the  whole  of 
his  adversary's  army.  He  therefore  postponed  his  ad- 
vance until  the  following  day.  Bragg,  who  had  now 
arrived  on  the  ground,  at  once  saw  that  he  was  con- 
fronted by  Buell's  whole  force,  and  acted  accordingly. 
It  was  not  his  purpose  to  fight  a  general  battle,  least 
of  all  did  he  desire  to  fight  with  half  his  army  ;  he 
therefore  prepared  to  retreat  in  a  northeasterly  direc- 
tion, which  would  give  him  time  to  concentrate  his 
scattered  forces. 

Brief  as  this  battle  had  been,  lasting  but  for  four 
hours,  it  was  the  bloodiest  that  was  ever  fought  on  Ken- 
tucky soil ;  for  the  numbers  engaged,  and  the  duration 
of  the  action,  it  was  one  of  the  most  destructive  in 
modern  military  history.  The  Federal  force  actually 
engaged  numbered  rather  less  than  twenty-five  thousand 
men.  Of  these  they  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  about 
four  thousand ;  McCook's  corps  lost  three  thousand 
killed  and  wounded,  out  of  twelve  thousand  five  hun- 


from  doni:lson  to  perryville.       309 

dred  men  engaged.  The  Confederates  lost  from  the 
fifteen  thousand  men  whom  they  brought  into  action 
over  three  thousand  in  killed  and  wounded.  At  least 
seven  thousand  men  fell  in  that  fierce  storm  between 
2.30  and  6  p.  m. 

In  the  night  Bragg,  satisfied  that  he  had  to  deal  with 
the  whole  of  Buell's  army,  fell  back  toward  Harrods- 
burg,  that  he  might  hasten  his  conjunction  with  Kirby 
Smith's  corps,  which  was  moving  toward  him  from 
Frankfort  and  Lexington,  as  well  as  with  several  other 
detached  bodies  of  troops  which  were  in  various  parts 
of  Central  Kentucky.  This,  though  a  necessary,  was 
a  very  dangerous  move,  for  it  carried  him  farther  from 
his  line  of  retreat,  and  exposed  him  to  attack  from 
Buell,  while  in  a  position  where  orderly  retreat  would, 
in  case  of  defeat,  have  been  quite  impossible.  But 
Buell  could  hardly  hope  to  strike  him  another  blow  be- 
fore this  concentration  was  effected,  even  if  he  knew,  as 
he  probably  did,  the  object  of  Bragg's  northward  move- 
ment. He  therefore  waited  before  forcing  another  ac- 
tion for  the  junction  of  Sill's  division,  detached  to  drive 
out  the  Confederate  force  in  Frankfort,  meanwhile  war- 
ily pushing  forward  his  line  to  Danville. 

Hardee's  blow,  though  in  a  way  a  blunder,  served  a 
good  purpose  for  his  cause,  as  it  made  Buell  even  more 
cautious  than  he  was  wont  to  be.  After  his  junction 
with  Kirby  Smith's  and  the  other  detached  forces,  Bragg 
moved  eastward  to  beyond  Dick's  River,  making  his 
centre  at  Bryantsville.  Buell  has  been  blamed  for  not 
attacking  him  here ;  and  at  first  sight  there  seems  to 
have  been  a  good  chance  lost  in  not  forcing  the  game 
at  this  point. 

As  will  be  seen  from  the  map,  Buell  had  what  sailors 


310  KENTUCKY. 

would  call  the  weather  gauge  of  Bragg's  position.  To 
make  good  his  retreat,  Bragg  had  to  march  at  least  one 
third  farther  than  Buell  to  attack  him.  But  whoever 
will  go  over  the  ground,  or  even  examine  good  maps  of 
the  country,  will  see  that  while  a  victory  of  the  Federal 
arms  at  this  point  would  have  been  overwhelming,  the 
chance  of  winning  it  from  an  enemy  of  nearly  equal 
strength,  all  of  whose  forces  were  veterans,  was  not  so 
good  that  a  discreet  commander  should  have  risked  the 
venture  ;  a  defeat  would  have  been  utter  ruin  to  the 
Federal  cause.  If  Buell  had  driven  them,  the  enemy 
could  easily  have  forced  the  fight  at  Dick's  River,  or, 
beaten  from  that  point,  he  would  have  the  extensive 
defenses  of  Camp  Dick  Robinson  at  his  disposal  as  a 
point  d'appui.  Moreover,  the  long  drought  had  broken 
the  very  day  of  the  Perry ville  fight,  and  the  difficulties 
of  the  Sahara  were  exchanged  for  those  of  wet  roads 
and  swollen  streams.  Before  Buell  was  prepared  to 
strike  a  blow,  Bragg,  who  was  better  in  managing  a 
retreat  than  an  advance,  slipped  from  his  dangerous  po- 
sition, and  made  for  the  ford  of  Rockcastle  River  at 
Livingston. 

Crittenden's  corps  marched  parallel  with  Bragg's  army 
through  Stamford,  but  was  unable  to  gain  upon  him  far 
enough  to  force  anything  but  trifling  actions  with  his 
rear-guard.  The  battle  at  Perryville  had  given  the 
Confederate  trains  a  long  start  for  Cumberland  Gap,  so 
that  Bragg  had  open  ways  and  well-arranged  supply 
stations  for  his  light  marching  army.  By  obstructing 
the  roads  which,  in  this  region,  frequently  run  through 
forests,  with  felled  trees,  he  was  able  to  so  hinder  the 
Federal  chase  that  it  became  hopeless,  especially  as  the 
country  had  been  absolutely  denuded  of  all  provisions 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYV1LLE.  311 

for  man  or  beast  by  the  armies  which  had  passed 
through  it,  and  the  pursuing  column  was  necessarily 
dependent  on  its  trains  for  all  supplies.  The  pursuit 
was  kept  up  to  London  and  Manchester,  but  became 
daily  more  unavailing,  and  the  Confederate  army  finally 
escaped  with  a  vast  amount  of  plunder  to  its  strong- 
holds beyond  the  Cumberland  Mountain,  amid  the  ex- 
ecrations of  all  Southern  sympathizers  who  deemed  his 
enforced  retreat  a  disgraceful  act. 

As  soon  as  it  was  evident  that  Bragg  had  abandoned 
all  hope  of  further  action  in  Kentucky,  it  became  nec- 
essary for  Buell  to  make  all  due  haste  for  Nashville, 
lest  the  half  beaten  enemy  should  overpower  the  garri- 
son that  Buell  had  wisely  left  in  that  place.  But  it 
was  not  to  return  under  Buell's  command  ;  on  October 
30th  he  was  displaced  by  Rosecrans,  who  had  just  won  a 
considerable  victory  near  Corinth,  Miss.,  and  whose  star 
was  on  that  account  now  in  the  ascendant.  Early  in 
December  the  Federal  army  was  out  of  the  State,  except 
large  garrisons  that  were  left  to  guard  against  such  suc- 
cesses as  had  been  won  by  Morgan  and  Kirby  Smith. 

There  has  been  much  criticism  of  this  Kentucky  cam- 
paign of  the  Federal  army  under  Buell,  the  most  of 
which  seems  quite  undeserved.  Buell's  retreat  to  Louis- 
ville was  clearly  one  of  the  best  executed  pieces  of 
strategy  of  the  war  ;  it  was  well  planned  and  admirably 
executed,  and  though  much  of  its  success  is  to  be  at- 
tributed to  the  dilatory  action  of  his  enemy,  it  is  fair  to 
assume  that  its  leader  could  have  met  all  opposition  in 
a  soldierly  way.  The  readvance  from  Louisville  was 
swift,  and  extremely  well  suited  to  the  needs  of  the 
position.  It  showed  a  remarkably  clear  grip  on  the 
whole  problem  before  him.     But  for  the  singular  series 


312  KENTUCKY. 

of  accidents  at  Perryville,  clue  to  the  blunder  of  Har- 
dee as  to  the  force  he  was  striking,  and  the  mistake  of 
Buell  as  to  the  force  with  which  the  blow  was  struck, 
to  which  was  added  the  strange  negligence  of  his  sub- 
ordinates in  not  giving  him  due  notice  of  the  action,  it 
is  likely  that  he  would  have  been  able  to  deliver  an 
overwhelming  blow  against  Bragg's  army. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  Bragg's  posi- 
tion was  exceedingly  strong.  As  soon  as  he  abandoned 
all  his  plans  for  holding  Kentucky,  and  limited  himself 
to  the  defense  of  his  booty  trains,  he  confessed  his  es- 
sential defeat,  but  was  in  a  position  to  secure  his  retreat 
from  the  State.  His  army  of  forty-eight  to  fifty  thou- 
sand veterans  was  so  nearly  a  match  for  the  fifty-five 
or  sixty  thousand  men  that  Buell  could  hope  to  bring 
against  it,  that  with  the  choice  of  position  it  could  well 
afford  to  risk  a  battle.  If  defeated,  it  could  expect  to 
make  good  its  retreat ;  if  victorious,  it  might  again  find 
Kentucky  in  its  grasp. 

Buell's  supreme  duty  was  to  drive  Bragg  from  Ken- 
tucky ;  he  should  have  endeavored  to  destroy  him  if 
the  chance  of  doing  so  was  extremely  good,  but  merely 
expelling  him  was  a  victory.  He  could  not  afford  to 
risk  the  chance  of  the  misfortunes  that  might  come  with 
any  doubtful  battle.  If  we  justify  Meade  in  permitting 
the  broken  Confederate  army  to  escape  after  Gettys- 
burg, without  further  attack,  as  almost  all  good  military 
authorities  do,  we  must  deem  Buell's  caution,  in  the 
face  of  a  stronger  and  much  better  conditioned  army, 
well  within  the  limits  of  his  duty,  if  not  his  supreme 
duty,  under  the  circumstances.  His  sagacious  action 
turned  back  the  strongest  wave  of  war  that  ever  rolled 
over  Kentucky  without  the  risks  of  a  hazardous  battle. 


FROM  DO  NELSON  TO  PERRYV1LLE.  313 

In  following  the  movements  of  those  great  armies  we 
have  necessarily  omitted  all  mention  of  several  discon- 
nected incidents  that  are  a  part  of  the  history  of  the 
campaign,  which  led  to  important  consequences.  The 
most  notable  of  these  was  the  admirably  conducted  re- 
treat of  General  George  H.  Morgan  from  Cumberland 
Gap  to  the  Ohio  River.  On  June  17th,  General  Mor- 
gan, with  four  brigades  of  troops,  by  threat  of  siege 
drove  the  Confederate  General  Stephenson  from  his  un- 
assailable position,  and  occupied  this  magnificent  natural 
stronghold.  When  the  Confederates  under  Kirby  Smith 
entered  Kentucky  by  way  of  Big  Creek  Gap,  a  pass  con- 
siderably to  the  west  of  Cumberland  Gap,  which  the  Fed- 
eral forces,  in  their  ignorance  of  the  topography,  failed 
to  fortify,  Morgan  was  left  to  shift  for  himself  without 
any  instructions  as  to  his  course.  He  appears  indeed 
to  have  been  quite  forgotten  by  his  superior  officers. 

If,  on  the  threat  of  Kirby  Smith's  invasion,  he  had 
been  promptly  withdrawn  to  Central  Kentucky,  his  force 
of  about  eight  thousand  men,  all  well  seasoned  soldiers, 
under  the  command  of  a  man  of  decided  military  capac- 
ity, would  doubtless  have  avoided  the  defeat  of  Nelson. 
Nothing  shows  the  confusion  of  the  Federal  operations 
in  the  West  so  well  as  this  capital  blunder.  When  the 
interior  of  Kentucky  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Confeder- 
ates, General  Morgan  found  himself  without  provisions, 
and  his  old  enemy,  Stephenson,  so  placed  that  foraging 
was  impossible.  His  only  resort  for  supplies  was  in  the 
rich  valleys  of  Eastern  Tennessee,  now  fully  controlled 
by  the  Confederates.  The  mountain  district  of  Ken- 
tucky furnished  little  for  him.  The  small  farms  of  the 
country  were  scantily  tilled,  and  at  best  afforded  little 
provision  for  an  army. 


314  KENTUCKY. 

Many  another  commander  would  have  surrendered 
his  abandoned  brigades  to  the  enemy,  but  Morgan,  de- 
stroying his  stores,  leaving  nothing  of  profit  to  his  pur- 
suers, plunged  into  the  wilderness  of  Eastern  Kentucky, 
and  through  a  mountainous  forest,  where  he  had  often 
to  create  his  roads  as  he  went,  he  made  his  way  for 
about  two  hundred  miles  to  the  Ohio  at  Greenupsburg. 
He  brought  off  all  his  field  cannon,  despite  the  ener- 
getic efforts  of  the  Confederate  General  Morgan  to 
cripple  his  march  or  at  least  to  capture  his  trains. 

The  Confederate  resistance  to  his  movement  was 
skillfully  planned,  and  might  have  been  successful  but 
for  the  unwillingness  of  General  Humphrey  Marshall 
to  move  as  he  was  ordered  by  Bragg  to  do.  As  it 
was,  the  march  of  the  Federal  army  was  a  long,  run- 
ning, starving  fight,  from  which  the  force  came  out 
looking  like  an  army  of  spectres,  shoeless,  their  cloth- 
ing in  tatters,  and  their  bodies  wasted  by  scant  food. 
This  retreat  deserves  to  be  remembered  as  one  of  the 
great  exploits  of  the  war,  and  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful movements  of  the  kind  in  military  history.  Mor- 
gan's retreat  never  received  the  credit  it  deserved.  The 
public  was  clamorous  for  battle,  and  was  too  little 
pleased  with  the  masterly  retrograde  march  of  Buell  to 
praise  this  equally  capital  exploit. 

There  were  many  small  actions  between  the  de- 
tached parties  of  Confederate  cavalry  and  the  Home 
Guards  of  the  several  counties  during  the  period  of 
Bragg's  great  movement.  We  can  only  describe  one 
or  two  of  these  by  way  of  example,  to  show  how  strong 
was  the  spirit  of  resistance  among  the  people. 

On  September  27th  Colonel  Basil  Duke,  of  the  Con- 
federate General  John  Morgan's  command,  with  about 


FROM  DOXELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.         315 

four  hundred  men,  undertook  to  cross  the  Ohio  at 
Augusta,  in  Bracken  County,  about  forty  miles  above 
Cincinnati,  in  order  to  threaten  that  city  with  the  ex- 
pectation that  a  portion  of  the  Federal  .troops  on  the 
south  side  of  the  town  might  be  compelled  to  with- 
draw. This  was  apparently  undertaken  with  the  hope 
that  the  fortifications  about  Covington  might  thus  be 
laid  open  to  a  sudden  dash  of  the  Confederate  forces, 
which  still  lay  within  convenient  distance  for  attack. 
Duke's  move  was  resisted  at  the  point  where  they  un- 
dertook to  cross  the  Ohio  by  a  force  of  about  one  hun- 
dred Home  Guards,  citizens  of  Augusta,  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  Dr.  Joshua  Taylor  Bradford.  A  part  of 
this  force  consisted  of  Southern  sympathizers,  who  had 
been  pressed  into  service  by  the  Union  men.  Two  ex- 
temporized Federal  gunboats  fled  at  the  outset  of  the 
fight,  as  soon  as  they  found  themselves  exposed  to  the 
fire  of  some  light  field-guns  in  the  Confederate  hands. 
The  Home  Guards,  though  outnumbered  four  to  one  by 
their  veteran  assailants,  fought  for  several  hours  from 
house  to  house,  killing  and  wounding  about  fifty  of 
Duke's  men,  and  compelling  him  to  expend  the  am- 
munition he  had  provided  for  his  raid.  Duke  lost  a 
large  part  of  his  officers  from  the  accurate  fire  of  these 
extemporized  soldiers.  Three  of  the  captains  of  the 
Confederate  force  and  six  of  the  lieutenants  were 
killed. 

It  is  doubtful  if  even  in  the  old  Indian  warfare  there 
had  ever  been  a  fight  of  such  terrible  ferocity.  The 
town  was  stormed,  and  the  fighting  was  kept  up  from 
house  to  house,  the  inmates  continuing  the  struggle  until 
they  were  burned  out  or  killed.  General  Duke  says,  in 
his  account  of  the  battle :  "  Details  of  men  were  posted 


316  KENTUCKY. 

in  the  middle  of  the  street  iu  front  of  every  house,  to 
fire  on  the  inmates  as  they  showed  themselves,  and  pre- 
vent them  from  maintaining  an  accurate  and  effective 
fire.  Other  details  were  made  to  break  in  the  doors  of 
the  houses  and  enter  them.  The  artillery  was  brought 
into  the  town,  and  turned  upon  the  houses  in  which  the 
most  stubborn  resistance  was  kept  up.  Planted  about 
ten  paces  from  a  house,  aimed  to  strike  about  a  yard 
below  the  sills  of  the  windows,  beneath  which  the  de- 
fenders were  crouched  (except  when  taking  aim),  and 
double -shotted  with  grape  and  canister,  the  howitzers 
tore  great  gaps  in  the  walls.  .  .  .  Flags  of  truce  about 
this  time  were  hung  out  from  several  windows,  and, 
believing  that  a  general  surrender  was  meant,  I  ordered 
the  fires  to  be  extinguished.  But  only  those  who  shook 
the  white  flags  meant  to  give  up  ;  the  others  continued 
to  fight.  One  or  two  men  putting  out  the  fires  were 
shot.  I  immediately  ordered  that  every  house  from 
which  shots  came  should  be  burned.  A  good  many 
were  soon  in  flames,  and  even  then  the  fighting  con- 
tinued in  some  of  them.  My  men  were  infuriated  by 
what  they  esteemed  bad  faith  in  a  continuance  of  the 
fight  after  the  flags  of  truce  were  displayed,  and  by  the 
loss  of  their  comrades  and  of  some  favorite  officers.  I 
never  saw  them  fight  with  such  ferocity.  Few  lives 
were  spared  in  the  houses  into  which  they  forced  their 
way." 

The  Home  Guards,  having  finally  expended  their 
ammunition,  and  the  houses  in  which  they  were  posted 
being  burned  over  their  heads  or  battered  to  pieces 
by  the  artillery,  were  compelled  to  surrender.  But 
the  expedition  into  Ohio  was  foiled.  Duke  returned  to 
Morgan  with  his  force  decimated  by  this  battle  and  with 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE.  317 

one  more  experience  in  the  fighting  power  of  the  citizen 
Kentuckian. 

On  September  28th,  eleven  Home  Guards  at  Fal- 
mouth had  an  encounter  with  twenty-eight  Texan  cav- 
alry, in  which  they  defeated  their  assailants,  inflicting  a 
loss  of  six  men.  In  a  score  of  other  engagements  these 
little  detached  commands,  fighting  by  their  thresholds, 
showed  their  willingness  to  combat  against  hopeless 
odds  and  to  endure  a  degree  of  punishment  which  it  is 
hard  to  obtain  from  regular  troops.  Though  often  over- 
come, they  showed  the  Confederate  troops  that  the  State 
would  not  be  readily  subjugated,  and  dissipated  all  the 
fondly-cherished  ideas  that  Kentucky  was  actually  in 
sympathy  with  the  Confederacy,  though  she  was  held  in 
bondage  by  the  Federal  power. 

This  Confederate  movement  into  Kentucky  marks 
the  high  tide  of  the  Civil  War,  and  the  retreat  of  Bragg 
was  a  part  of  the  great  reflux  of  that  wave.  The  crush- 
ing defeat  of  Nelson's  forces  by  Kirby  Smith  came  on 
the  same  day  as  the  second  Confederate  victory  at  Ma- 
nassas. The  battle  of  Perry ville,  which  made  the  re- 
treat of  Bragg's  army  an  imperative  necessity,  came 
three  weeks  after  the  defeat  of  Lee  at  Antietam.  It 
was  necessary  that  the  Confederates  should  win  both 
these  hazards  in  order  that  their  cause  should  succeed. 
In  both  cases  the  result  was  the  sullen  retreat  of  the 
Confederate  forces  into  their  strongholds.  Their  ar- 
mies were  checked,  but  not  broken,  and  the  Federal 
forces  were  not  able  to  give  a  crushing  pursuit  to  the 
forces  that  they  had  beaten  back,  —  far  better  than  the 
northern  armies  the  troops  of  the  Confederacy  with- 
stood the  trials  of  defeat. 

The  enforced  retirement  of  General  Buell,  and  his 


318  KENTUCKY. 

subsequent  court-martial,  are  painful  incidents  of  this 
campaign.  lie  was  blamed  for  permitting  the  escape 
of  the  Confederate  forces  into  Kentucky.  It  is  difficult 
to  see  how  he  could  have  prevented  Bragg  from  mak- 
ing this  movement.  He  was  endeavoring  to  possess 
himself  of  Chattanooga,  and  had  barely  force  enough  for 
this  appointed  task.  It  was  impossible  in  such  a  coun- 
try for  him  to  keep  an  effective  grip  upon  his  enemy. 
There  should  have  been  an  army  in  Kentucky  compe- 
tent to  restrain  a  Confederate  advance.  The  whole 
available  force  left  in  the  State,  except  the  entirely  iso- 
lated and  apparently  forgotten  garrison  at  Cumberland 
Gap,  consisted  of  not  over  ten  thousand  raw  troops,  and 
these  were  scattered.  The  blame  for  this  rests  upon 
the  Federal  government,  which  was  given  to  much  lock- 
ing of  the  stable  whenever  the  horse  was  stolen. 

One  other  incident  of  the  war  deserves  notice  here. 
This  was  the  killing  of  Nelson  by  the  Federal  general, 
Jefferson  C.  Davis.1  Nelson  was  one  of  the  remarkable 
soldiers  that  Kentucky  produced  during  the  war.  At 
its  outbreak  he  was  an  officer  of  the  United  States  navy. 
He  was  sent  by  President  Lincoln  to  Kentucky  to  aid 
in  the  organization  of  new  levies.  He  commanded  a  di- 
vision at  Shiloh,  where  he  won  great  credit.  Always  a 
man  of  passionate  nature,  the  defeat  of  his  forces  by 
Kirby  Smith  made  him  furious,  though  he  was  respon- 

1  The  numerous  coincidence  of  names  in  the  Federal  and  Confeder- 
ate armies  in  Kentucky  will  be  apt  to  puzzle  the  reader.  Nothing 
else  shows  so  well  the  near  kinship  of  the  combatants.  Jefferson  C. 
Davis,  Federal,  and  Jefferson  Davis,  Confederate;  George  H.Mor- 
gan, Federal,  and  John  H.  Morgan,  Confederate ;  Thomas  L.  Critten- 
den, Federal,  and  George  B.  Crittenden,  Confederate,  are  but  a  few 
cases  of  this  correspondence  of  names  among  important  men  of  the 
time. 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRTVILLE.  319 

sible  for  the  conditions  that  brought  it  about,  for  to  him 
more  than  to  any  one  else  must  be  attributed  the  leav- 
ing of  Morgan's  forces  at  Cumberland  Gap.  When 
organizing  the  forces  in  Louisville  under  Buell,  his 
rage  broke  forth  against  General  J.  C.  Davis.  Dur- 
ing a  trifling  dispute  concerning  some  unimportant  mat- 
ter, he  insulted  his  opponent,  and,  on  his  dignified  re- 
monstrance, struck  him  with  his  hand.  Davis  instantly 
killed  him.  Davis's  act  was  generally  approved  by  his 
brother  soldiers.1 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  in  the  conflict  of  arms 
the  laws  are  commonly  silent,  but  all  the  while  these 
momentous  movements  were  going  on  in  Kentucky,  the 
law-making  power  of  the  Commonwealth  was  by  no 
means  stilled.  The  vitality  of  the  Kentucky  legislature 
defied  the  shock  of  armies.  From  March  17th  to  August 
24th  the  legislature  stood  adjourned ;  on  the  latter  date 
it  met  on  the  summons  of  Governor  Magoffin.  In  his 
message  he  set  forth  the  fact  that  the  State  laws  con- 
cerning the  security  of  citizens  had  been  violated ;  that 
many  civilians  had  been  arrested  for  asserted  sympathy 
with  the  rebellion,  and  that  these  were  detained  by  the 
Federal  government,  many  of  them  having  been  taken 
from  the  State  without  due  form  of  trial,  and  were  de- 
tained in  prison  by  process  of  military  law.  At  the 
elections  that  had  taken  place  a  few  d;iys  before  the 

1  It  was  the  present  writer's  chance  to  serve  for  a  while  under  Gen- 
eral Davis.  It  is  impossible  for  him  to  believe  that  a  man  so  mild  in 
nature  would  have  slain  a  brother  officer  without  the  bitterest  provo- 
cation. In  the  French  army  even  a  common  soldier  is  justified  by 
military  law  in  killing  instantly  his  commander  if  he  receives  the  in- 
sult of  a  blow  with  the  hand.  In  war  the  personal  dignity  of  officers 
and  men  must  be  preserved.  It  cannot  be  kept  without  maintaining 
such  cruel  customs 


320  KENTUCKY. 

legislature  met  men  who  were  believed  to  be  secession- 
ists were  not  allowed  to  vote  or  to  be  voted  for. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  facts  were  as  alleged,  and 
that,  without  formal  proclamation  of  martial  law,  the 
Federal  commanders  had  undertaken  to  regulate  a  great 
many  matters  that  did  not  properly  concern  them.  The 
principal  offender  was  Brigadier  -  General  Boyle,  of 
Louisville,  commanding  the  provost  guard  forces  in 
Kentucky.  This  man  was  much  more  vigorous  in  his 
dealings  with  citizens  than  with  soldiers,  and  for  a  time 
carried  a  high  hand  as  a  tyrant  in  Kentucky. 

There  was  no  doubt  a  serious  difficulty  arising  from 
the  presence  of  many  Confederate  sympathizers  in  Ken- 
tucky, but  while  the  civil  law  was  allowed  to  perform 
its  functions  it  was  an  insult  to  the  State  to  have  such 
intermeddling  from  its  subject,  the  military  arm.  At 
certain  points  martial  law  was  proclaimed,  and  the  civil 
courts  suspended  in  times  of  emergency  ;  but  as  a  whole 
the  Federal  government  long  endeavored  to  abide  by 
the  strong  desire  of  the  people  for  civil  control.  The 
action  of  men  like  Boyle  did  a  great  deal  to  turn  many 
men  against  the  Federal  authority.  They  had  entered 
on  the  war  to  preserve  the  laws  that  these  cheap  briga- 
diers treated  with  contempt. 

When  Bragg  came  into  the  State  he  recruited  about 
two  thousand  five  hundred  men  in  Central  Kentucky, 
from  the  class  of  persons  who  had  suffered  in  person 
or  in  their  sympathies  from  the  often  brutal  tyranny 
of  the  provost  marshal   system.1     Many  of  them  were 

1  It  has  been  asserted  that  a  much  larger  number  joined  the  Con- 
federate army  during  this  invasion.  The  estimate  given  is  that  of 
Colonel  J.  Stoddard  John&ton,  and  has  been  confirmed  by  other  au- 
thorities. 


FROM   DONELSON   TO  PERRYVILLE.  321 

men  of  conservative  Union  proclivities  who  had  been 
turned  into  rebels  by  the  outrages  of  the  military  au- 
thorities. 

At  the  time  of  its  reassembly  the  legislature  had  lost 
all  hope  of  maintaining  the  machinery  of  the  civil  law 
in  its  perfect  integrity  amid  the  shock  of  arms ;  Gov- 
ernor Magoffin's  message  received  not  much  sympathy, 
and  that  officer  was  at  length  persuaded  to  resign.  Ho 
insisted,  however,  that  his  successor  should  be  a  man 
that  should  suit  him,  else  he  would  not  yet  abandon  his 
very  uncomfortable  chair.1  Finally  a  treaty  was  made 
between  the  legislature  and  the  executive,  by  which 
both  the  governor  and  acting  lieutenant-governor  were 
to  resign.  Mr.  James  F.  Robinson  was  then  elected 
speaker  of  the  senate,  and  thereby  became  ex-officio 
governor.  Then  the  speaker  of  the  senate  who  had  re- 
signed for  the  nonce,  in  order  to  make  way  for  Robin- 
son, was  reelected  to  that  office.  Thus  after  two  years 
of  patient  endurance  of  their  difficult  chief  magistrate, 
by  due  form  of  law  the  legislature  succeeded  in  clear- 
ing itself  of  a  very  unhappy  connection. 

As  before  remarked,  this  patience  of  the  Union  men 
under  circumstances  calculated  to  inspire  rage  in  a  time 
of  such  peril  is  a  very  creditable  incident  in  the  history 
of  Kentucky  ;  none  but  a  people  devoted  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  legality  would  have  borne  for  two  years  with 
a  chief  magistrate,  when  rightly  or  wrongly  they  fully 
believed  him  to  be  at  least  an  enemy  to  the  cause  they 
were  battling  for,  if  not  in  actual  alliance  with  their 
foes. 

The  earnest  protest  that  went  up  from  all  good  citi- 
zens against  the  action  of   the  provost  marshal   of  Ken- 

1  See  Collins,  i.  108. 
21 


322  KENTUCKY. 

tucky,  and  the  evident  danger  of  an  armed  conflict  with 
the  legislature  on  the  question,  led  to  the  momentary 
mitigation  of  its  evils.  General  Boyle  was  ordered  to 
execute  his  office  under  the  governor,  an  arrangement 
which,  loyally  maintained,  would  have  removed  the  worst 
sting  from  the  system.  This  interlude  of  peace  was, 
however,  destined  to  be  but  brief. 

•This  session  of  the  legislature  marks  by  its  acts  the 
deepening  rage  of  the  people  against  those  who  were 
giving  aid  and  comfort  to  its  enemies.  A  number  of 
severe  acts  were  passed  designed  to  make  it  uncomfort- 
able for  persons  who  had  taken  part  in  the  rebellion  to 
remain  within  the  State.  All  jurors  were  compelled  to 
swear  to  their  present  and  future  loyalty.  A  similar 
oath  was  required  of  all  "  common  school  commission- 
ers, examiners  of  teachers,  teachers,  and  college  profes- 
sors." 1  Even  ministers  of  the  gospel  were  required  to 
swear  allegiance  before  they  could  legally  perform  the 
marriage  rite.  In  fact  it  came  about  that  even  loyal 
people  could  hardly  get  through  the  activities  of  a  day 
without  at  least  once  or  twice  swearing  allegiance  to 
the  State  and  Federal  government. 

This  utter  degradation  of  the  solemnity  of  an  oath 
was  a  serious  and  lamentable  feature  in  our  Civil  War. 
It  was  by  no  means  peculiar  to  Kentucky,  though,  from 
the  fact  that  both  State  and  Federal  authorities  were 
engaged  in  the  miserable  business,  it  was  worse  there 
than  anywhere  else.  In  his  ordinary  contacts  with  the 
people,  an  officer  was  constantly  engaged  in  swearing 
men  and  women  as  to  what  they  had  done  in  the  past 
or  would  do  in  the  future. 

The  origin  of  this  distressing  mistake  is  to  be  found 
l  See  Collins,  i.  109. 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  PERRYVILLE  323 

in  the  very  high  value  given  to  a  judicial  oath  among 
all  classes  of  rural  Americans.  Before  the  war  and 
since,  perjury  was  among  the  rarest  of  crimes  in  Ken- 
tucky. Thus  the  legislature,  in  casting  about  for  a  safe- 
guard against  the  numerous  sympathizers  with  the  re- 
bellion, bethought  itself  of  this  bond  of  the  oath.  It 
goes  without  saying  that  the  bond  sat  lightly  on  most 
minds,  and  even  came  to  be  utterly  meaningless,  al- 
though the  parole  of  honor  retained  its  moral  value  to 
the  last.  This  miscellaneous  oath  taking  was  a  degra- 
dation of  a  most  sacred  relation,  that  brought  no  profit 
to  those  who  prostituted  it  to  political  ends. 

On  the  31st  of  August,  two  days  after  the  overthrow 
of  Nelson's  army,  the  legislature  abandoned  Frankfort, 
and  removed  with  the  State  records  to  Louisville,  hav- 
ing previously  passed  an  act  that  warranted  the  change 
of  the  capital  in  case  invasion  made  it  necessary. 

The  session  held  in  Louisville  did  no  important  legis- 
lation. The  war  had  now  drawn  away  the  greater  part 
of  the  abler  men  from  the  legislative  halls.  The  Con- 
federate or  the  Federal  army  held  those  to  whom  the 
people  naturally  looked  for  the  control  of  their  laws. 
The  civil  law  had  done  all  that  it  could  to  affect  the 
immediate  destinies  of  the  people,  the  rest  had  to  be 
left  to  the  stern  arbitrament  of  war.  The  efficient  gov- 
ernor, in  perfect  sympathy  with  the  Union  cause,  gave 
the  people  a  sense  of  security  that  they  never  had  while 
the  chief  executive  was  a  man  whose  sympathies  were 
with  the  Confederates,  even  though  his  honor  kept  him 
true  to  his  oath  of  office.  Governor  Robinson  had  the 
qualities  of  an  admirable  executive,  and  earnestly  sec- 
onded the  energetic  action  of  General  Finnell,  the  adju- 
tant-general of  the  State,  who  had  already  done  a  won- 


324  KENTUCKY. 

derful  work  in  pushing  forward  the  recruiting  of  the 
State  forces. 

On  August  16,  1862,  on  the  day  of  Robinson's  in- 
auguration, General  Finnell  reported  that  the  State  had 
already  furnished  to  the  United  States  army  41,703 
men.  Much  talk  has  been  made  of  the  recruits  that 
Bragg  and  Morgan  received  during  their  occupation  of 
the  State.  It  is  doubtful  if  in  all,  with  the  prestige 
of  their  brilliant  successes  to  aid  them,  the  Confeder- 
ates obtained  more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  re- 
cruits ;  while  during  the  period  when  the  prospects  of 
the  Federal  party  seemed  the  gloomiest,  when  for  a 
time  it  appeared  as  if  the  Commonwealth  had  fallen 
before  the  rebel  arms,  and  much  of  its  area  was  in  their 
possession,  the  State  received  more  men  than  it  could 
secure  acceptance  for  under  the  Federal  calls  for  troops. 
There  were  now,  including  the  Home  Guard  forces,  about 
fifty  thousand  Kentucky  troops  at  the  command  of  the 
Federal  authorities.  Tins  total  included  much  more 
than  one  half  the  able-bodied  men,  of  all  ages,  in  the 
State,  after  deducting  those  who  joined  the  Confederate 
army. 

After  the  escape  of  the  Confederate  forces  from  Ken- 
tucky a  period  of  relative  inaction  set  in.  There  was 
still  an  incessant  series  of  small  raids,  which  were 
neither  of  political  meaning  nor  military  importance,  yet 
were  exceedingly  harassing  to  the  people.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  a  new  form  of  evil  that  endured  for 
a  long  time,  and  was  more  intolerahle  than  the  larger 
operations  of  legitimate  warfare,  which  were  generally 
conducted  on  both  sides  with  a  singular  respect  for  non- 
combatants.  Such  marches  and  combats  as  had  recently 
taken   place  in   Kentucky  always  leave  in  their  train  a 


FROM   DONELSON   TO  PERRYVILLE.  325 

mass  of  unsoldi&rly  rubbish  that  is  hard  to  clear  away. 
Deserters  from  both  armies  formed  bands  of  outlaws 
called  guerrillas.  These  wretches,  without  commanders 
from  either  army,  sheltered  in  the  great  forests  that 
abound  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  State,  were  often 
strong  enough  to  overcome  the  domestic  forces,  and 
were  guilty  of  many  outrages.  They  brought  back  to 
Kentucky  the  evils  of  its  struggle  with  the  Indians. 
Men  again  tilled  their  fields  with  their  muskets  by  their 
sides,  and  slept  in  expectation  of  combat.  During  the 
whole  of  this  and  the  following  year  these  parties  were 
hunted  down,  and  when  captured  hanged  without  mercy. 
Still  their  numbers,  their  daring,  and  their  swift  move- 
ments, made  the  struggle  as  difficult  and  as  bloody  as 
in  any  year  during  the  last  century. 

The  only  military  operation  of  any  moment  during 
the  remainder  of  the  year  1862  was  another  of  Mor- 
gan's remarkable  raids.  After  the  battle  of  Perryville 
and  the  retreat  of  Bragg's  army,  Morgan,  with  a  curi- 
ous confidence  in  his  own  resources,  remained  for  near- 
ly a  fortnight  in  Central  Kentucky,  making  occasional 
attacks  on  exposed  positions  ;  then,  dividing  his  force, 
he  made  a  retreat  from  the  State,  in  part  by  the  way  of 
Williamsburg,  and  in  part  by  Waynesboro,  on  the  Green 
River.  In  Tennessee  he  performed  many  brilliant  feats 
by  hampering  the  movements  of  Rosecrans  in  his  efforts 
to  repossess  Tennessee.  It  would  require  the  remainder 
of  this  volume  to  give  an  account  of  the  swift  and  tell- 
ing strokes  which  he  gave  his  enemy.  As  his  men  were 
Kentuckians  the  story  would  be  germain  to  the  history 
of  the  Commonwealth,  and  it  is  in  many  ways  the  best 
part  of  its  military  history.  Unfortunately,  we  must 
limit  the  mention  of  Morgan's  exploits  to  the  more  im- 


826  KENTUCKY. 

portant  incidents  of  liis  campaigns  in  Kentucky,  which 
were  but  a  small  part  of  the  work  effected  by  his  com- 
mand. 

In  the  latter  part  of  December  it  was  evident  that 
Morgan's  cavalry,  with  their  untiring  exertions  and 
singular  successes  in  cutting  off  detached  forces,  could 
not  greatly  hinder  the  excellent  plans  of  Rosecrans. 
The  only  remaining  chance  was  for  Morgan  to  try  once 
more  the  task  of  breaking  up  the  Federal  lines  of  com- 
munications with  the  North,  and  the  creation  of  a  divi- 
sion in  Kentucky. 

On  the  22d  of  December  Morgan  started  on  this  ad- 
venture with  about  three  thousand  men.  The  lessons 
of  experience  had  taught  the  Federal  commanders  to 
leave  large  garrisons  at  the  important  points  on  this  line 
from  Louisville  to  Nashville.  There  were  more  than 
thrice  Morgan's  numbers  guarding  the  weak  points  of 
this  line,  but  they  were  principally  infantry  troops,  an 
arm  that  is  worthless  in  dealing  with  such  raids. 

Slipping  adroitly  by  the  larger  garrisons  of  the  Fed- 
eral forces,  Morgan  managed  to  capture  first  Glasgow 
and  then  Elizabethtown,  the  garrison  at  the  latter  place 
surrendering  without  any  serious  struggle  ;  next,  though 
closety  pursued,  he  captured  the  block-houses  protecting 
the  bridges  at  Muldraugh's  Hill,  where  he  burned  the 
trestle  work  and  destroyed  the  track.  In  this  district  he 
destroyed  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of 
bridges.1  Thence  he  turned  towards  Bardstown,  but 
finding  strong  bodies  of  troops  at  every  important  point 
he  made  a  swift  retreat  into  Tennessee  without  being 
brought  to  a  battle. 

While  crossing  the  Rolling  Fork  of  Salt  River,  Mor- 
1  History  of  Morgan? s  Cavalry,  Basil  \V.  Duke,  p.  335. 


FROM  DONELSON  TO  FERRY VILLE.  827 

gan'a  rear-guard  and  some  detachments,  amounting  to 
about  eight  hundred  men,  were  attacked  by  about  seven 
thousand  Federal  troops.  They  should  have  been  cap- 
tured, but  by  a  brilliant  attack  on  the  advancing  force, 
followed  by  a  swift  retreat,  they  were  enabled  to  rejoiu 
their  commands  on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 

This  blow  of  Morgan  was  answered  by  a  similar  raid 
from  the  Federal  forces,  whose  commanders  had  at 
length  caught  the  spirit  of  this  swift  partisan  warfare. 
General  Carter,  a  brilliant  cavalry  officer,  with  eleven 
hundred  picked  men,  set  out  from  Winchester,  Kentucky, 
on  December  25th.  Through  bitter  winter  weather, 
and  exceedingly  difficult  ways,  he  pushed  on  without 
encountering  any  body  of  the  enemy  until  he  struck  the 
Tennessee  and  Virginia  Railway,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Holston.  His  first  object  was  to  burn  the  great  railway 
bridge  at  Bluntsville ;  this  was  guarded  by  a  Confed- 
erate force  of  three  hundred  men  under  a  Major  Mc- 
Dowell. Carter  had  marched  with  such  rapidity  that 
he  was  his  own  herald ;  he  captured  McDowell's  force 
without  firing  a  shot.  Burning  this  bridge  over  the 
Holston  he  marched  westward,  until  he  captured  the 
bridge  over  the  Watauga,  some  twelve  miles  away. 
The  destruction  of  these  bridges,  and  the  burning  of 
the  ties  of  the  road  between,  broke  the  railway  in  such 
a  complete  fashion  that  it  would  require  months  to 
effect  its  repair.  After  this  considerable  work,  which 
was  entirely  undisputed,  he  made  a  swift  and  practically 
unopposed  retreat  into  Kentucky.1  This  was  the  first 
semblance  of  retaliation  for  the  numerous  cavalry  raids 
to  which  the  Federal  army  had  been  subjected.  It  had 
not  the  brilliancy  of  Morgan's  and  Forest's  work,  which 
1  See  Comte  de  Paris,  Civil  War  in  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  496. 


328  KENTUCKY. 

indeed  was  never  attained  by  the  Federal  cavalry,  but 
it  did  away  with  the  notion  that  this  sort  of  warfare 
was  the  peculiar  property  of  the  Confederates,  though 
to  the  end  they  remained  the  best  masters  of  the  art 
which  they  had  so  well  devised. 

It  is  a  reasonable  estimate  that  Morgan's  force,  which 
at  the  highest  never  exceeded  four  thousand  men,  and 
probably  did  not  average  over  two  thousand,  which 
was  horsed,  foraged,  and  fed  from  its  enemies,  served 
to  neutralize  in  the  time  of  action  at  least  ten  times 
its  numbers  of  less  active  troops.  In  no  modern  war- 
fare has  the  quality  of  commander  and  men  served  to 
give  a  force  anything  like  this  power.  It  should  not 
be  supposed  that  Morgan's  success  was  due  to  any  pe- 
culiar circumstances  of  American  warfare.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  same  audacity,  swiftness,  and  fer- 
tility of  resources  would  have  been  equally  successful 
on  European  fields.  Such  a  force  as  Morgan's,  oper- 
ating in  the  rear  of  the  German  armies  during  the  war 
of  1870,  would  doubtless  have  attained  something  like 
the  same  measures  of  success  as  Morgan  won. 

There  was  only  one  peculiar  feature  of  America  that 
especially  favored  such  partisan  warfare ;  it  was  the 
wide  distribution  of  saddle  horses  in  the  country  where 
these  operations  were  carried  on.  This  made  it  possible 
for  his  men  to  obtain  remounts  as  rapidly  as  their  horses 
became  exhausted,  while  their  pursuers  soon  found  their 
steeds  worn  out,  while  they  were  without  means  of  re- 
placing them.  None  of  the  continental  countries  of  Eu- 
rope could  furnish  anything  like  the  number  of  horses 
fit  for  the  saddle  as  maybe  found  in  the  Southern  Amer- 
ican States.  This  might  somewhat  limit  the  success  of 
such  movements  in  other  lands,  still  it  should  be  rei 


FROM   DONELSON   TO  PERRYVTLLE.  329 

bered  that  Morgan's  men  were  not  properly  cavalry,  but 
mounted  infantry.  They  were  armed  with  muskets,  and 
in  almost  all  cases  fought  as  foot  soldiers  in  single  open 
ranks,  so  the  horse  was  practically  used  to  save  the  legs 
of  the  men  in  marching,  and  rarely  served  the  more 
picturesque  purpose  of  a  charger. 

While  considering  this  use  of  mounted  infantry  in 
flying  columns,  which  was  essentially  an  invention  of 
Morgan,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  call  attention  to 
another  peculiar  military  project  of  his  that  marks  his 
fertile  mind.  His  men  being  essentially  horsed  infan- 
try, Morgan  found  that  they  were  weak  in  a  mounted 
charge  ;  he  desired  to  have  a  small  portion  of  his  force 
with  which  he  could  strike  a  quick,  telling  blow,  that 
might  leave  the  enemy  in  a  bad  shape  to  resist  the 
slower  movement  of  his  dismounted  horsemen.  He 
therefore  chose,  by  competition,  fifty  men  for  their  skill 
in  shooting  with  the  pistol  while  they  were  riding 
swiftly,  mounted  them  on  his  swiftest  horses,  providing 
each  man  with  four  revolvers,  or  a  total  of  twenty-four 
shots,  giving  them  no  other  weapon. 

His  general  plan  was  to  watch  for  a  chance  to  hurl 
this  force  against  the  flank  of  men  in  line  of  battle,  or 
marching  in  column,  or  perhaps  in  the  momentary  con- 
fusion of  action.  This  project  was  matured  only  a  short 
time  before  his  death.  The  writer  was  told  that  it  was 
twice  tried  with  singularly  good  results,  but  his  notes 
of  the  actions  where  it  was  essayed  have  been  lost.  It 
is  easy  to  imagine  that  in  such  warfare  as  he  waged,  this 
picked  body  of  swift  riders  and  accurate  marksmen 
might  be  a  most  valuable  resource  in  the  hands  of  a 
clear  headed  commander.     It  could  convert  momentary 


330  KENTUCKY. 

confusion  into  rout,  and  even  in  favorable  cases  it  might 
be  made  to  break  an  enemy's  lines  sufficiently  to  give 
its  assailant  a  great  advantage  in  his  main  attack.1 

1  It  is  proper  to  say  that  General  Duke  makes  no  mention  of  this 
device  in  his  history  of  Morgan's  command. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    CLOSING    STAGES    OF   THE    CIVIL    WAR. 

The  failure  of  Bragg's  campaign  removed  the  seat  of 
all  grand  movements  of  the  war  from  Kentucky  ;  the 
following  years  are  no  longer  to  be  divided  by  great 
events,  but  fall  into  something  like  the  order  of  ordi 
nary  times. 

The  most  interesting  incident  of  this  comparatively 
barren  period  was  the  fierce  discussion  concerning  the 
emancipation  proclamation.  It  was  not  to  be  expected 
that  this  momentous  event  would  be  allowed  to  pass 
without  a  fierce  battle  of  words  among  a  people  so  long 
accustomed  to  dispute  the  actions  of  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment. 

When  the  Federal  government  entered  on  the  war  it 
took  up  an  attitude  of  neutrality  on  the  question  of 
slavery.  This  neutrality,  like  that  which  Kentucky  es- 
sayed with  reference  to  the  whole  conflict,  proved  in  a 
short  time  to  be  impracticable.  The  logic  of  events, 
which  were  unforeseen  at  the  outset  of  the  rebellion, 
compelled  the  overthrow  of  slavery,  thus  recognizing 
the  essentially  revolutionary  character  of  the  war  in 
which  the  nation  was  engaged. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  overthrow  of  slavery  was 
in  violation  of  repeated  and  solemn  assurances  that  the 
Federal  government  would  not  meddle  with  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery,  but  would  prosecute  the  war  without 


332  KENTUCKY. 

disturbing  its  legal  status  ;  but  it  is  the  verdict  of  his- 
tory that  this  attitude  had,  at  the  time  of  the  procla- 
mation, become  utterly  untenable.  To  have  kept  these 
words  of  promise  would  have  been  an  act  of  treason  to 
the  country.  Slavery  had  been  practically  destroyed ; 
all  that  the  emancipation  proclamation  of  January  1, 
1863,  did,  was  to  relieve  the  administration  of  its  nec- 
essary difficulties  arising  from  the  effort  to  tear  down 
slavery  with  one  hand  and  hold  it  up  with  the  other. 

Although  this  proclamation  did  not  nominally  affect 
the  institution  of  slavery  in  Kentucky,  for  the  action 
applied  in  its  terms  to  the  States  in  rebellion  alone ; 
although  the  institution  at  which  it  struck  was  a  dere- 
lict, a  mere  wreck  in  the  sea  of  war,  this  proclamation 
was  felt  as  a  blow  by  a  large  part  of  the  Union  people 
in  Kentucky.  They  had  taken  sides  with  the  Federal 
government  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  In  their  view  the  essential  difference  between 
the  combatants  was  that  the  rebels  were  breaking  the 
constitution,  while  the  armies  to  which  they  were  giv- 
ing their  support  were  endeavoring  to  maintain  that 
contract.  The  proclamation  of  Lincoln  was  to  their 
minds  an  act  that  put  them  as  well  as  their  enemies  in 
an  extra  constitutional  attitude.  They  felt  that  if  both 
sides  were  to  fight  outside  of  the  constitution  their  posi- 
tion lost  the  moral  and  historic  value  it  had  at  the 
outset. 

A  considerable  number  of  the  sympathizers  with  the 
Confederates  were  made  more  decidedly  rebellious  by 
this  action.  The  deliberative  minds  were  puzzled,  and 
generally  disgusted,  by  the  turn  the  war  had  taken,  yet 
the  motives  of  the  people,  as  a  whole,  were  not  changed 
by  the  action,  as  the  elections  in  August  clearly  showed. 


TEE   CLOSING  STAGES   OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR.     333 

Their  blood  was  up,  they  felt  that  they  were  in  for  the 
war  where  they  stood,  so  they  contented  themselves  with 
abundant  and  often  noisy  protest  against  the  proclama- 
tion. 

These  difficulties  brought  about  by  the  proclamation 
were,  however,  naturally  increased  by  the  constant  in- 
terference of  the  military  with  unoffending  citizens  who 
were  suspected  of  rebel  sympathies.  The  Union  party 
and  its  legislature,  instinctively  and  determinedly  cling- 
ing to  the  civil  law,  deprecated  this  action,  and  by  fre- 
quent remonstrances  with  the  Federal  authorities  from 
time  to  time  broke  up  the  evil.  The  difficulty  would 
have  been  easy  to  overcome  if  the  Federal  govern- 
ment had  taken  a  sensible  course  in  the  matter.  If 
the  military  officers  in  the  State,  or  at  least  the  pro- 
vost marshals,  had  been  left  in  the  control  of  some  dis- 
creet officer  who  could  have  had  the  time  to  compass  the 
problem  before  him,  it  would  have  been  easy  to  devise 
a  system  that  would  have  sufficiently  controlled  the  small 
number  of  Confederate  sympathizers  in  the  State  with- 
out estranging  the  feelings  of  the  Union  population. 
But  these  provost  commanders  were  coming  and  going 
with  the  movements  of  troops  ;  no  sooner  had  one  been 
educated  to  his  difficult  task  than  he  made  way  for  an- 
other who  had  his  blunders  to  make. 

These  interferences  with  the  civil  law  took  two  fla- 
grantly unjust  forms.  One  of  these  was  the  taxing  of 
so-called  rebel  sympathizers  for  the  damage  done  by  the 
guerrillas  or  by  the  raiding  jiarties  of  the  enemy.  It  is 
impossible  to  devise  any  system  under  the  pretense  of 
law  that  brings  about  more  irritating  injustice  than  this 
often  tried  but  ever  failing  measure.  General  La  Mar- 
mora made  it  effective  in  the  temporary  suppression  of 


834  KENTUCKY. 

brigandage  in  Sicily,  but  this  was  a  case  where  the  evil 
to  be  corrected  was  due  to  the  inaction  of  a  society 
which  had  abundant  means  of  making  its  government 
effective  against  the  evil-doers.  But  the  outrages  which 
the  so-called  Confederate  sympathizers  were  forced  to 
make  good  were  utterly  beyond  their  control.  They 
were  the  work  of  a  public  enemy  that  the  whole  military 
force  of  the  nation  was  endeavoring  to  overthrow.  The 
only  hope  of  the  people  whose  property  was  confiscated 
was  that  the  raiders  would  cease  their  work  out  of  pity 
for  their  misfortunes.  Moreover,  the  evidence  on  which 
the  people  were  denounced  as  rebels  was  generally  of 
a  worthless  nature,  —  a  few  words  of  criticism  of  some 
Federal  officer,  the  reported  presence  of  a  son  or  brother 
in  the  Confederate  army,  or  the  mere  fabrications  of 
some  one  who  had  a  grudge  to  pay,  were  often  enough 
to  sweep  away  the  property  of  citizens  who  had  at  most 
given  nothing  but  their  sympathy  to  the  rebel  cause. 
No  American  people  have  ever  been  subjected  to  as 
iniquitous  oppression  as  this  system  brought  about. 

The  other  form  of  the  evil  arose  from  the  interfer- 
ence of  the  military  power  with  elections.  This  was 
even  more  unnecessary  and  more  irritating  to  the  lawful 
Union  men  than  the  confiscation  of  property.  For  cen- 
turies they  and  their  fathers  had  guarded  the  freedom 
of  elections  as  a  sacred  heritage.  The  sight  of  a  sol- 
dier at  the  poll  has  always  been  like  a  red  rag  to  a  bull 
among  all  English  people.  There  was  never  a  time 
since  the  overthrow  of  neutrality  that  the  "  out  and 
out "  Union  men  did  not  have  a  majority  of  two  thirds 
of  the  voters  of  the  Commonwealth.  Even  when  fifty 
thousand  of  the  Union  voters  were  absent  in  the  field, 
the  old  men  of  the  Union  party  had  absolute  control  of 


THE  CLOSING  STAGES   OF   THE   CIVIL    WAR.    335 

the  State.  It  would  have  been  more  reasonable  and 
certainly  safer  to  let  the  discontented  element  of  the 
people,  who  were  not  as  a  class  in  favor  of  the  rebel- 
lion, but  who  were  critical  of  the  measures  taken  by 
the  government,  have  their  ineffectual  protest  than  to 
still  their  voices  by  military  force. 

One  of  the  most  flagrant  cases  of  interference  with 
purely  political  action,  but  only  one  of  very  many,  was 
that  which  took  place  in  Frankfort  on  February  18, 
1863.  A  convention  of  the  so-called  Democratic  party, 
composed  of  two  hundred  delegates,  representing  only 
one  third  of  the  counties  in  the  State,  met  to  nominate 
a  State  ticket.  They  represented  that  portion  of  the 
people  who  were  most  in  sympathy  with  the  rebellion, 
though  they  strenuously  and  honestly  denied  all  thought 
of  secession.  They  were  refused  the  use  of  the  legis- 
lative hall  for  their  meetings  by  the  then  sitting  Union 
legislature,  and  were  denounced  by  the  Uniou  papers 
as  secessionists.  Acting  on  this  public  opinion,  Colonel 
Gilbert,  commanding  the  forces  at  that  point,  proceeded 
to  break  up  the  convention  by  military  force,  ordering 
the  members  to  go  to  their  homes  and  to  refrain  from 
all  "  seditious  and  noisy  conversation."  In  this  out- 
rage on  the  civil  law  Colonel  Gilbert  appears  to  have 
acted  on  his  own  responsibility,  but  his  action  was  jus- 
tified by  his  superiors. 

This  high-handed  outrage  had  a  great  effect  upon 
public  opinion  in  Kentucky.  Even  the  legislature, 
now  composed  almost  altogether  of  violent  Union  men, 
passed  in  the  senate  a  series  of  resolutions  to  the  effect 
that  such  interference  was  not  desired  by  the  Union 
men,  and  that  it  "  was  dangerous  in  its  tendencies,  and 
should  not  pass  unrebuked."  l     In  the  August  election 

l  Collins,  i.  p.  120. 


336  KENTUCKY. 

there  was  the  same  interference  on  the  part  of  the  mil- 
itary with  the  election.  This  last  outrage  had  not  even 
the  palliation  of  effectiveness  ;  it  exasperated  the  Union 
men  without  restraining  the  Confederate  sympathizers- 
Only  a  few  polling  places  were  under  the  control  of  the 
troops.  If  the  election  had  been  perfectly  free,  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  result  would  have  been  materially  varied. 
Its  only  effect  was  to  arouse  a  very  strong  hostility  to 
the  action  of  the  Federal  government,  which  in  an  ear- 
lier stage  of  the  war  might  have  had  disastrous  conse- 
quences. As  it  was,  thousands  of  Union  men,  who  had 
given  their  property  and  their  blood  to  the  cause  of 
the  constitution,  feeling  that  the  laws  and  privileges 
for  which  they  were  fighting  were  in  danger  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Federal  officers,  lost  heart  and  their  inter- 
est in  the  struggle.  They  had  supposed  that  they  were 
fighting  not  for  the  victory  of  armies,  but  for  the  main- 
tenance of  laws ;  for  the  welfare  of  the  country,  and  not 
for  the  supremacy  of  a  political  party  that  appeared  to 
be  willing  to  destroy  the  Commonwealth  if  it  stood  in 
the  way  of  its  purposes. 

So  far  from  condemning  this  defection  of  spirit,  which 
undoubtedly  came  upon  the  people  from  the  overthrow 
of  their  election  laws  and  the  subordination  of  their 
courts  to  the  military  arm,  we  should  rather  praise  the 
independence  of  mind  of  men  who,  in  the  midst  of  bat- 
tle, could  keep  in  their  hearts  this  reverence  for  the 
foundations  of  their  political  life.  Although  many  who 
retain  the  memories  of  the  great  conflict  will  doubtless 
dispute  this  opinion,  it  will  certainly  be  the  verdict  of 
the  time  to  come,  when  these  events  are  dispassionately 
considered. 

This  "rowing  tide  of  antagonism  to  the  methods  ol 


TEE   CLOSING  STAGES  OF   THE   CIVIL    WAR.    337 

the  Federal  government  led  to  no  serious  resistance  to 
the  Federal  action.  The  people  felt  they  were  com- 
mitted to  their  course,  and  continued  upon  it ;  they  sep- 
arated their  devotion  to  the  constitution  from  their 
intense  and  growing  hatred  to  the  Federal  executive 
that  permitted  these  acts. 

In  the  election  of  August  General  Thomas  E.  Bram- 
lette,  a  gallant  Union  officer,  was  elected  governor  hy  a 
vote  of  67,586  to  17,344  for  Charles  E.  Wickliffe,  him- 
self a  proclaimed  Union  man,  but  of  the  ultra  States 
rights  stamp.  Despite  the  interference  of  the  military 
at  the  polls,  the  greater  part  of  the  secessionist  vote  was 
given  to  Wickliffe.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  vote  of  the 
States  rights  candidate  would  have  exceeded  twenty 
thousand  if  the  election  had  been  absolutely  free,  for  as 
it  was  the  State  polled  nearly  84,000  votes,  and  this 
with  the  number  of  the  soldiers  beyond  the  State  in  the 
two  armies  made  a  vote  greater  than  that  of  1859,  the 
last  before  the  war,  which  was  143,000.  Quite  sixty 
thousand  of  the  citizens  were  now  beyond  its  limits  or 
dead  on  the  many  battle-fields. 

We  shall  have  to  follow  this  growing  hatred  to  the 
interference  of  the  military  with  the  civil  force  in  the 
next  chapter.  For  the  moment  we  must  turn  to  the 
interesting  military  incidents  of  the  year.  Though 
Kentucky  was  not  in  1863  the  pathway  of  great  armies, 
some  of  the  greatest  events  of  the  war  took  place  near 
her  borders,  and  the  petit  guerre  with  the  raiding  par- 
ties went  incessantly  on. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1863,  General  Rosecrans,  who 
was  still  endeavoring  to  regain  the  ground  lost  in  Ten- 
nessee during  the  preceding  summer,  had  a  four  days' 
engagement  with  General  Bragg,  known  as  the  battle 
22 


338  KENTUCKY. 

of  Stone  River,  or  Murfreesboro.  This  long  and  com- 
plicated action  is  beyond  tlie  field  of  this  history,  but 
it  is  of  especial  interest  to  us  for  the  reason  that  it 
brought  a  larger  loss  to  Kentucky  than  any  other  battle 
of  the  war,  except,  perhaps, .  that  at  Shiloh.  Of  the 
seventy-eight  thousand  men  of  the  two  armies  engaged 
in  this  long  and  terrible  struggle,  about  sixteen  thou- 
sand were  killed  or  wounded.  The  Kentucky  troops 
engaged  probably  amounted  in  all  to  about  twelve 
thousand  men.  The  loss  in  Breckinridge's  division  of 
the  Confederate  army,  composed  largely  of  Kentucky 
troops,  was  over  two  thousand.  The  total  loss  of  Ken- 
tucky regiments  on  both  sides  was  over  twelve  hundred 
men,  of  which  nine  hundred  and  eleven  were  lost  from 
ten  regiments  in  the  Federal  army.  Like  so  many 
other  of  these  greater  battles  of  the  rebellion  it  was 
nobody's  victory,  for  while  the  Federals  retained  the 
ground  they  were  in  no  shape  to  profit  by  their  success. 
The  American  ground  and  the  American  nature  are 
both  unfavorable  for  decisive  battles. 

Morgan's  raids  make  the  principal  feature  in  the  war 
in  Kentucky  during  this  year.  They  had  now  become 
as  successive  as  a  tertian  ague  ;  men  counted  time  from 
one  raid  to  another.  His  brigade  for  this  raid  was 
under  command  of  his  able  subordinate  Colonel  Chike, 
returned  to  Kentucky  after  an  absence  of  a  month  or  so 
in  the  latter  part  of  February.  As  usual  it  marched  in 
separate  columns  in  various  directions,  striking  several 
points,  but  meeting  with  such  resistance  that  the  suc- 
cesses were  very  small,  except  the  permanent  gain  the 
Confederate  cause  received  from  the  many  thousand  men 
who  had  to  be  kept  ready  to  meet  the  invasion.  Cluke 
thrice  took  Mount  Sterling,  each  time  capturing  many 


THE   CLOSING   STAGES   OF  TEE  CIVIL   WAR.     339 

prisoners  and  some  army  stores,  and  destroyed  a  num- 
ber of  trains  on  the  railways,  but  found  the  preparation 
for  Ins  reception  so  good  that  he  soon  abandoned  the 
State.  Cluke's  management  was  very  skillful,  showing 
him  to  be  an  apt  pupil  of  his  great  master. 

On  the  24th  of  March  the  Confederate  General  Pe- 
gram,  with  twenty-six  hundred  men,  essayed  the  same 
role  of  a  raider.  Advancing  toward  Richmond,  he  oc- 
cupied Danville.  His  advance  was  disputed  by  Wol- 
ford's  Kentucky  cavalry,  —  a  singularly  irregular  but 
often  effective  body  of  troops,  —  and  he  soon  made  a 
hasty  retreat.  On  the  30th  he  was  forced  to  give  battle 
at  Dutton  Hill,  in  Pulaski  County,  where  he  was  de- 
feated by  a  force  of  half  his  number  under  the  command 
of  General  Q.  A.  Gilmore.  It  was  evident  that  Pegram 
was  not  fitted  for  the  difficult  work  that  he  essayed,  and 
he  was  not  afterwards  troublesome  to  the  State.  The 
inevitable  failure  of  all  the  other  Confederate  cavalry 
commanders  when  they  tried  raids  in  Kentucky  shows 
the  singular  genius  of  Morgan's  command. 

Morgan  returned  again  to  Kentucky  in  June,  this 
time  bound  on  a  distant  and  important  errand.  The 
Confederate  army  was  then  upon  its  advance  into  Penn- 
sylvania. It  was  necessary  to  make  some  diversion  in 
the  West.  If  possible,  this  diversion  was  to  persuade 
the  Federal  leaders  that  the  experiment  tried  in  the 
preceding  year  by  Bragg  was  to  be  repeated.  The 
condition  of  the  Confederate  forces  in  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  did  not  make  it  practicable  for  them  to  un- 
dertake any  effective  large  movements  in  Kentucky ; 
but  this  dauntless  rider  felt  that  if  he  could  effect  a 
lodgment  north  of  the  Ohio  he  might  be  able  to  detain 
a  large  number  of  troops  in  the  West,  who  would  other- 


340  KENTUCKY. 

wise  be  employed  against  Lee,1  atid  bring  the  burden 
of  war  upon  States  that  had  never  felt  the  infliction. 
Moreover,  his  movement  in  force  would  lead  to  an  anx- 
iety concerning  the  invasion  of  Kentucky. 

Morgan  started  on  his  important  errand  with  about 
three  thousand  four  hundred  men.  He  did  not  at  once 
make  a  straight  way  to  his  objective  point,  but  spent 
some  time  in  various  operations  in  the  State,  which  were 
probably  designed  to  foster  the  idea  that  he  was  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  an  invasion  in  force.  On  the  4th  of  July 
he  undertook  to  capture  a  force  of  four  hundred  men,2 
under  Colonel  O.  H.  Moore,  of  the  25th  Michigan,  in- 
trenched on  a  bluff  in  a  bend  of  the  Green  River.  On 
his  summons  to  surrender,  the  gallant  Colonel  Moore 
answered  that  the  "  4th  of  July  was  a  bad  day  for  sur- 
renders, and  that  he  would  rather  not.'"'  Several  times 
Morgan  hurled  his  force  against  this  little  baud,  and  in 
the  end  withdrew  with  a  loss  of  nearly  one  hundred, 
including  half  a  dozen  valuable  officers,3  among  whom 
were  Colonel  Chenault  and  Major  Brent,  who  had  been 
extremely  valuable  to  him. 

After  this  defeat,  hungering  for  the  success  that  he 
was  so  much  accustomed  to,  he  essayed  the  taking  of 
Lebanon,  where  after  a  stubborn  fight  he  captured  the 
garrison  of  three  hundred  men  of  the  20th  Kentucky, 
losing  in  this  action  about  fifty  of  his  men.  Again  his 
loss  in  officers  was  very  heavy,  among  them  his  brother, 
Lieutenant  Thomas  Morgan.  He  then  struck  Bards- 
town,  near  by,   where  a  force  of   twenty-six  men,  in- 

1  Morgan's  crossing  of  the  Ohio  seems  to  have  been  contrary  to  the 
express  orders  of  Bragg.     See  History  of  Morgan's  Cavalry,  p.  410. 

2  This  is  the  force  as  given  by  Duke.    Collins  gives  Moore's  force 
as  two  hundred  men. 

3  See  Collins,  i.  125. 


TUB   CLOSING  STAGES   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.     341 

trenched  in  a  barn,  held  a  detachment  of  his  force  for 
a  day,  until  he  brought  artillery  to  bear  upon  them.1 
After  these  unprofitable  experiments  he  set  about  his 
more  important  errand.  On  the  8th  he  arrived  at 
Brandenburg,  on  the  Ohio,  about  forty  miles  below 
Louisville,  where  his  artillery  soon  captured  two  steam- 
ers, which  he  used  to  ferry  his  troops  across  the  river. 
Despite  the  resistance  offered  by  the  Indiana  militia  and 
a  small  gunboat,  his  loss  in  crossing  was  very  trifling. 
A  small  scouting  party  under  Captain  Hines  had  pre- 
viously explored  the  country  in  the  neighboring  parts  of 
Indiana,  and  found  no  Federal  force  to  oppose  him  ex- 
cept the  militia. 

Once  upon  the  northern  soil  he  began  the  most  sin- 
gidar  raid  of  the  war.  Moving  a  little  north  of  the 
Ohio  River  he  turned  to  the  east  and  began  his  accus- 
tomed work  of  destroying  all  the  railways  that  his 
march  intersected.  At  Corydon  he  captured  five  hun- 
dred militia,  after  a  short  and  slight  resistance.  He 
had  another  skirmish  at  Salem,  but  so  far  there  was  no 
vigorous  opposition  to  his  march.  It  became  evident  to 
him,  however,  that  his  task  was  one  of  unusual  hazard. 
The  telegraph  dispatches,  intercepted  by  his  skillful 
operators,  showed  that  the  country  was  rising,  and  that 
he  would  therefore  have  to  beat  away  large  gather- 
ings of  militia,  reinforced  by  regular  troops  from  Ken- 
tucky. There  was  no  doubt  of  his  ability  to  maintain 
himself  against  any  one  such  gathering,  but  in  the  suc- 
cession of  combats  his  force  would  be  frittered  away. 
He  therefore  sought  to  return  to  the  southern  side  of 
the  Ohio  at  the  earliest  possible  opportunity. 

The  retreat  of  Lee  from  Pennsylvania  had  taken 
i  Collins,  i.  p.  125. 


342  KENTUCKY. 

away  the  object  of  his  raid,  and  the  rapid  rising  of  the 
country  made  his  task  more  perilous  than  it  promised 
at  first  to  be.  His  determination  to  retire  seems  to 
have  been  taken  soon  after  he  passed  north  of  Louis- 
ville. He  tried  the  passage  of  the  Ohio  at  Twelve  Mile 
Island  with  a  detached  force,  but  lost  the  men  he  sent 
upon  the  scout.  He  next  sought  to  cross  five  miles  be- 
low Cincinnati  where  the  river  was  fordable,  but  his 
scouts  found  this  passage  guarded  by  a  force  of  artillery 
and  infantry  which  made  the  effort  inadvisable. 

There  was  now  a  capital  stroke  open  to  him,  one  that 
could  have  easily  been  accomplished ;  he  could  have 
occupied  Cincinnati,  destroyed  the  government  stores  at 
that  point,  aud  demanded  a  free  passage  for  his  force 
into  Kentucky  as  the  price  of  the  safety  of  the  city. 
The  available  force  guarding  the  city  did  not  equal  the 
numbers  of  his  own  command  ;  they  were  all  infantry, 
except  two  or  three  hundred  mounted  men.  These 
scanty  troops  were  distributed  over  an  area  of  at  least 
forty  square  miles  of  territory.  He  could  have  beaten 
a  part  of  this  scattered  force,  or  gone  between  its  de- 
tached positions,  and  in  an  hour  he  would  have  been 
in  a  position  to  dictate  his  terms  for  crossing  into  Ken- 
tucky. In  place  of  this,  although  he  knew  that  a  sud- 
den rise  of  the  river  gave  passage  to  the  Federal  gun- 
boats, he  continued  his  ride  to  the  east.  His  only 
chance  now  was  to  ride  so  far  up  the  Ohio  that  he  could 
get  beyond  the  freshet  that  opened  the  way  to  the  gun- 
boats. 

Each  hour  his  danger  increased ;  six  regiments  of 
Kentucky  cavalry  were  now  on  his  trail,  and  though  he 
swept  the  country  of  the  fresh  horses  he  could  not  keep 
more  than   twelve  hours'  march  ahead  of  them.     The 


THE   CLOSING  STAGFS   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.    343 

rapidity  of  bis  movement  was  marvelous.  On  one  of  his 
marches,  from  Sunman  to  Williamsburg,  his  weary  men 
and  "horses  made  ninety  miles  in  thirty-five -hours,  —  a 
speed  in  an  enemy's  country  that  it  would  be  hard  to 
parallel  in  military  history.  Each  time  his  scouts  came 
to  the  Ohio  they  found  the  Federal  gunboats,  and  trans- 
ports with  troops,  watching  the  crossings,  giving  him  no 
chance  of  escape. 

Finally,  on  July  18th,  at  Buffington  Island,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Kanawha,  he  turned  at  bay,  and  tried  to 
force  a  passage  of  the  river.  His  men  were  exhausted 
from  their  ride  of  over  eleven  hundred  miles,  and  the 
necessary  wear  of  mind  that  attends  such  expeditions. 
After  a  brief  resistance  some  companies  of  them  sur- 
rendered. A  large  part  of  his  command  tried  to  swim 
the  river,  but  the  greater  part  of  these  were  captured 
by  the  1st  Kentucky  regiment  of  Federal  troops,  and 
many  were  killed  in  the  water.  Four  companies  only 
escaped  into  Virginia.  A  portion  of  the  command,  in- 
cluding their  leader,  deterred  from  crossing  by  the  fate 
of  the  others,  continued  their  eastward  march.  Finally, 
on  the  26th,  the  remnant  of  this  force  was  surrounded, 
and  forced  to  surrender.  Morgan  himself  was  taken, 
and  of  all  those  who  crossed  the  Ohio  less  than  five 
hundred  escaped  to  the  Confederacy.1 

Greatly  to  the  disgrace  of  the  Union  arms  the  Fed- 
eral commander  refused  to  observe  the  cartel  made  by 
Morgan  with  the  officer  who  received  their  surrender. 
The  surrender  was  made  to  a  Captain  Burbeck,  of  the 
Ohio  militia,  who  doubtless  exceeded  his  powers  in  ven- 
turing to  determine  the  conditions  of  capitulation ;  still, 
by  all  the  usages  of  war,  the  Federal  army  was  bound  to 
i  See  Collins,  i.  p.  127. 


344  KENTUCKY. 

observe  the  conditions  made  with  the  enemy  by  any 
officer  commanding  a  detachment  of  troops.  Morgan 
and  his  officers  were  imprisoned  in  the  Ohio  peniten- 
tiary, and  treated  as  convicts,  a  debasement  of  the  cus- 
toms of  war  for  which  General  Burnside  must  be  held 
accountable.  It  is  a  satisfaction  to  all  who  have  the 
honorable  spirit  of  soldiers,  that  goes  so  far  to  redeem 
war,  that  these  adroit  fellows  soon  dug  their  way  UDder 
the  walls  of  their  prison  and  were  again  free.1 

Captain  Hines,  who  planned  the  escape,  was  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  characters  in  Morgan's  command, 
rich  as  that  body  was  in  gifted  men.2  The  party  of 
fugitives  entered  a  railway  train,  rode  to  near  Cincin- 
nati, where  they  crossed  to  Kentucky. 

1  The}'  left  tbeir  respects  for  their  jailer,  and  a  brief  account  of 
their  escape,  giving  in  their  note  an  account  of  the  time  and  labor 
spent  in  their  mining  operations.     See  Collins,  i.  129. 

2  Few  would  imagine  that  the  present  able  and  dignified  head  of  the 
Kentucky  Court  of  Appeals,  the  chief  justice  of  the  Commonwealth, 
was  once  the  dauntless  partisan  commander,  Captain  Hines.  For 
years  he  was  the  head  of  any  desperate  enterprise  that  Morgan  un- 
dertook. After  Morgan's  final  overthrow,  he  was  engaged  in  other 
enterprises  of  peril.  He  had  charge  of  the  projected,  and  nearly  suc- 
cessful, attempt  at  releasing  the  Confederates  confined  in  Camp  Doug- 
las, near  Chicago,  arming  them,  and  with  them  creating  an  army  that 
should  be  strong  enough  to  force  its  way  to  the  Confederacy. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE    END    OF   THE    AVAR. 

The  desperation  to  which  the  people  were  brought 
by  the  system  of  guerrilla  raids  cau  hardly  be  described. 
Iu  the  year  1864,  there  was  not  a  county  in  the  State 
that  was  exempt  from  their  ravages.  The  condition  of 
the  Commonwealth  reminds  the  historical  student  of 
that  which  came  with  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in  Ger- 
many, and  with  the  latter  stages  of  the  war  between 
king  and  parliament  in  England.  It  is  the  normal  con- 
dition when  a  country  is  harried  by  the  discords  of  a 
civil  war,  and  especially  when  there  are  no  longer  large 
armies  in  the  field. 

On  the  4th  of  January,  1864,  Governor  Bramlette, 
late  a  Federal  officer,  who  at  the  outset  of  his  political 
life  was  opposed  to  such  summary  and  unwarranted 
action,  took  the  singular  responsibility  of  ordering  the 
arrest  of  the  Confederate  sympathizers,  to  be  held  as 
hostages  for  the  return  of  all  persons  captured  and  de- 
tained by  guerrillas.  Great  as  was  the  need  of  protec- 
tion from  these  freebooters,  this  proclamation  was  a 
serious  transgression  of  the  laws  which  the  governor 
was  sworn  to  maintain,  and  as  such  met  the  condem- 
nation of  a  great  part  of  the  Union  men.  Afterwards 
the  legislature  endeavored  to  secure  the  suppression  of 
this  evil  by  providing  more  numerous  and  more  effective 
troops  to  be  used  for  State  defense.     This  legislature 


346  KENTUCKY. 

voted  the  large  sum  of  $5,000,000,  for  the  purpose  of 
paying  for  the  adequate  internal  defense  of  the  State.1 

On  July  16th,  General  Burbridge,  then  commanding 
in  the  State,  issued  a  sanguinary  order  of  reprisals,  re- 
quiring that  whenever  a  citizen  was  killed  by  guerrillas 
four  prisoners  chosen  from  this  class  of  marauders  were 
to  be  taken  to  the  place  where  the  deed  was  done,  and 
in  retaliation  shot  to  death.  Theoretically  this  princi- 
ple of  retaliation  is,  though  severe,  within  the  usages  of 
war.  The  difficulty  was  that  it  was  never  easy  to  de- 
termine among  a  lot  of  prisoners  who  belonged  to  a 
properly  commissioned  command,  and  who  were  simple 
brigands.  Under  the  order  many  executions  took  place, 
some  of  men  who  probably  were  to  be  classed  as  Con- 
federate soldiers.  The  brutal  violence  of  this  plan 
made  it  extremely  distasteful  to  all  fair-minded  people. 
]t  was  carried  out  without  even  the  semblance  of  law 
given  by  the  proceedings  of  a  court-martial.  Nor  had 
it  the  sorry  merit  of  success.  It  merely  gave  an  addi- 
tional bitterness  to  a  contest  that  was  becoming  a  re- 
proach to  the  name  of  the  race. 

In  the  August  election  the  interference  of  the  mili- 
tary with  the  polling  was  even  more  serious  than  in  the 
previous  year.  In  the  election  period  an  extensive  sys- 
tem of  military  arrests  was  begun,  designed  to  overawe 
those  who  were  disposed  to  criticise  the  action  of  the 
military  commanders.  This  system  of  provost  marshal 
government  so  disgusted  the  people  that  a  majority  of 
them,  though  retaining  their  loyalty,  could  no  longer 
be  trusted  to  vote  for  the  candidates  approved  and  al- 
most nominated  by  the  Federal  commanders.  Fortu- 
nately, the  election  of  the  year  was  not  of  a  general 
i  Collins,  i.  130. 


THE  END   OF  TriE    WAR.  347 

character,  or  the  result  would  have  given  encourage- 
ment to  the  rebelliou,  by  showing  that  the  Union  men 
were  now  divided  into  two  distinct  divisions :  the  smaller 
part  made  up  of  those  who  were  willing  to  go  to  any 
extremity  in  their  toleration  of  the  arbitrary  acts  of  a 
provost  marshal  system  that  gave  effect  to  the  oppres- 
sive and  often  brutal  humor  of  the  courts  of  war  ;  and 
another  larger  part  who,  believing  that  the  immediate 
danger  from  the  armed  enemy  was  over,  were  disposed 
to  give  their  principal  attention  to  the  men  who  were 
undermining  the  foundations  of  civil  government  within 
the  Commonwealth. 

The  only  office  of  importance  that  was  to  be  filled  at 
the  August  election  of  1864  was  that  of  judge  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals  for  the  Third  District.  Alvin  Duvall 
was  a  candidate  for  reelection  ;  his  course  as  a  jurist 
was  satisfactory  to  a  large  part  of  the  people,  and  he 
was  renominated  for  the  office.  Although  he  had  in  no 
public  way  indicated  any  sympathy  with  the  rebellion, 
he  was  not  regarded  as  a  strong  Union  man.  If  the 
matter  had  been  left  to  the  people,  it  is  likely  that  he 
would  have  been  defeated  at  the  polls-  But  the  mili- 
tary authorities  resolved  to  arrest  him  just  before  the 
election,  but  he  escaped  from  the  State,  and  went  be- 
yond their  control.  They  then  ordered  that  he  should 
not  be  allowed  to  stand  as  a  candidate,  and  put  troops 
at  the  polls  to  enforce  this  order,  their  aim  being  to 
secure  the  election  of  M.  M.  Benton,  whom  the  Fed- 
eral officers  had  adopted  as  their  candidate.  To  defeat 
this  end  the  conservative  Union  men  nominated  Judge 
Robertson,  telegraphing  his  nomination  on  the  morning 
of  the  election  to  the  polling  places.  As  the  military 
guards  had  no  orders  to  refuse  the  tender  of  votes  for 


348  KENTUCKY. 

Judge  Robertson,  he  was  elected  as  a  protest  again9t 
the  arbitrary  action  of  the  military  arm  ;  a  large  num- 
ber of  citizens  testified  their  disgust  by  remaining  away 
from  the  polls. 

This  iniquitous  system  of  interference  with  the  civil 
law  had  now  pretty  thoroughly  separated  the  better 
class  of  the  Union  men  from  all  sympathies  with  the 
Federal  governmeut.  But  worse  was  yet  to  come.  In 
all  the  campaigns  and  battles  in  Kentucky,  there  had 
always  been  shown  the  utmost  consideration  for  women 
and  children.  The  soldiers  of  both  armies,  be  it  said 
to  their  great  honor,  were  singularly  considerate  of  them. 
Even  when  the  battles  raged  through  the  towns,  as 
they  often  did,  the  non-combatant  class  was  tenderly 
cared  for. 

But  in  1864  the  provost  marshals  of  the  State,  mostly 
men  who  were  not  soldiers  in  any  proper  sense,  who 
had  none  of  the  better  traditions  of  war,  began  to  arrest 
and  imprison  women  on  charges  of  sympathy  with  the 
rebellion,  correspondence  with  the  enemy,  and  the  like. 
Women  with  their  children  were  banished  from  the 
State  to  Canada  under  a  guard  of  negro  soldiers,  or  sent 
to  prison.  Women  whose  children,  brothers,  and  hus- 
bands were  in  the  Confederate  army,  or  dead  on  its 
battle-fields,  were  naturally  given  to  uttering  much  trea- 
son in  their  speech  ;  but  it  was  a  pitiable  sight  to  see 
the  power  of  the  Federal  government  turned  against 
these  helpless  sufferers. 

While  this  treatment  of  non-combatants,  old  men, 
women,  and  children,  and  the  interference  of  the  Fed- 
eral troops  with  elections,  was  the  principal  grievance 
of  the  conservative  Union  men,  there  was  another  source 
of  trouble  of  a  more  truly  political  nature,  which  served 


THE  END   OF   THE    WAR.  349 

to  increase  the  disaffection  of  the  Kentuckiana  with  the 
ways  of  the  Federal  government. 

The  Federal  government  had  engaged  to  leave  slavery 
as  it  found  it  in  Kentucky  and  elsewhere.  Although 
there  was  a  certain  amount  of  disgust  when  the  emanci- 
pation proclamation  came  out,  it  did  not  in  itself  make 
an  enduring  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  Union  men  ; 
but  when,  in  1864,  the  government  began  to  enlist 
negro  troops  in  Kentucky  the  people  became  greatly 
excited  over  the  matter.  Up  to  this  date  the  Common- 
wealth had  met  the  requisitions  for  troops  to  cany  on 
the  war  with  a  promptness  and  loyalty  unsurpassed  by 
any  other  State.  They  naturally  considered  it  as  an 
insult  that  their  slaves,  even  though  such  in  name  only, 
should  be  taken  from  them  and  put  into  the  army  with 
their  own  volunteer  soldiers.  Although  this  state  of 
feeling  will  probably  not  commend  itself  as  reasonable 
to  those  who  were  born  in  non-slaveholding  communi- 
ties, it  was  very  natural  in  the  Kentuckians.  To  them 
military  service  had  always  been  an  honorable  occupa- 
tion, open  only  to  those  of  the  masterful  race.  They 
had  refused  to  take  into  their  service  any  recruits  from 
the  free  negroes  of  the  State.  This  blow  at  their  mili- 
tary pride  was  keenly  felt. 

The  action  of  the  Federal  government  in  this  matter 
of  enlisting  slaves  was  singularly  vacillating ;  again  and 
again  the  process  was  begun  and  abandoned  on  account 
of  remonstrances  of  the  State  authorities.  It  was  an 
unprofitable  experiment;  the  enlistment  of  white  troops 
was  made  difficult ;  a  few  thousand  blacks  were  se- 
cured, but  they  never  proved  of  much  service  to  the 
Federal  army.  The  pure  negro,  though  a  fairly  brave 
fellow,  wants  the  essential  qualities  that  make  a  soldier. 


350  KENTUCKY. 

His  valor  is  of  the  passive  sort,  while  the  soldier  needs 
an  active  pugnacity.  Negro  troops  will  stand  a  fire 
that  they  cannot  return  as  well  or  better  than  whites ; 
they  will  do  well  in  distant  tiring,  except  that  they  are 
almost  invariably  bad  marksmen  ;  but  they  cannot  make 
a  charge,  and  a  small  body  of  rebels  coming  swiftly 
upon  them  with  that  ugly  yell,  which  rings  in  the  ears 
of  those  who  heard  it  at  the  distance  of  half  a  lifetime, 
would  break  any  line  of  them,  however  unshaken  be- 
fore. These  remarks  do  not  apply  to  mulattoes,  or  to 
negroes  bred  in  freedom  ;  such  men  seem  to  make  fairly 
good  soldiers. 

This  bitterness  between  the  conservative  Union  men 
and  the  Federal  commander  grew  to  such  height  that 
in  September,  18G4,  there  was  grave  danger  of  an  ac- 
tual revolt  of  the  Kentuckians  against  their  oppressors. 
The  State  authorities  were  now  fairly  arrayed  against 
the  Federal  provost  marshals  and  their  following.  Gen- 
eral Hugh  Ewing,  commanding  the  district,  had  ordered 
the  county  courts  to  levy  a  tax  sufficient  to  arm  and  pay 
fifty  men  in  each  county.  His  order  was  answered  by 
Governor  Bramlette,  who,  in  a  proclamation,  forbade 
the  county  courts  giving  effect  to  the  order.  Although 
Governor  Bramlette  represented  the  ultra  Union  men, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  would  have  striven  to 
maintain  his  position  by  the  use  of  force.1  Lincoln  re- 
voked Ewing's  order,  and  so  this  critical  point  was 
passed.  At  the  same  time  an  examination  was  ordered 
into  the  conduct  of  certain  knaves,  who  had  for  months 
ruled  Western  Kentucky  in  a  fashion  that  had  not  had 

i  It  is  reported  to  the  writer  that  Governor  Bramlette  was  at  this 
time  on  the  point  of  issuing  a  proclamation  recalling  the  Kentucky 
troops  from  the  field. 


THE  END   OF   THE   WAR.  351 

its  parallel  since  the  tyrannies  of  the  Austrian  Hayuau. 
A  commission,  composed  of  General  Speed  Fry  and 
Colonel  John  Mason  Brown,  checked  the  iniquities,  and 
made  such  a  showing  that  General  E.  A.  Paine,  Colonel 
II.  W.  Barry,  of  the  8th  United  States  Negro  Artillery, 
and  Colonel  McChesney,  of  Illinois,  and  a  number  of 
subordinate  officers,  were  removed.  It  was  charged 
that  they  had  been  guilty  of  extreme  cruelty  and  extor- 
tion.1 

These  blows  at  the  system  of  inflictions  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  do  more  than  subdue,  for  a  moment,  the  worst 
forms  of  the  evil.  This  was  too  deep  seated  for  easy 
remedy.  General  Burbridge  had  an  overbearing  spirit. 
He  gathered  around  him  a  set  of  advisers  who,  it  was 
asserted,  acting  as  a  secret  inquisition,  sent  many  Union 
men  into  prison  or  banishment,  simply  because  they 
protested  against  the  Federal  outrages.  A  sort  of  fury 
seemed  to  possess  many  men  hitherto  of  good  qualities 
as  citizens  or  soldiers.2 

So  far  from  these  brutal  reprisals  diminishing  the 
evils  of  the  guerrilla  warfare  it  grew  each  day  to  be  a 
more  crying  evil.  The  Home  Guards,  which  before  had 
carried  on  a  tolerably  effective  defense  against  these 
bands,  became  disgusted  with  the  inefficiency  and  oppo- 
sition of  the  Federal  commanders.     A  vast  number  of 

1  See  Collins,  i.  141. 

2  The  partisan  newspapers  of  the  day  inflamed  the  public  mind  by 
reckless  charges  against  the  leaders  of  both  parties.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  a  devoted  Union  man,  who  did  much  to  de- 
termine the  destiny  of  the  Commonwealth  in  these  trying  days,  was 
especially  selected  for  assault.  Collins,  who  was  animated  by  strong 
pro-southern  sentiments,  accuses  Dr.  Breckinridge  of  brutal  language 
in  reference  to  the  Confederate  sympathizers.  (See  Collins,  vol.  i.  p. 
142.)  A  careful  inquiry  has  convinced  the  writer  that  this  charge  is 
entirely  unfounded. 


352  KENTUCKY. 

bandit  gangs,  nominally  in  the  Confederate  army,  but 
realty  without  any  control  from  commissioned  officers, 
roamed  over  the  State  in  all  directions,  robbing,  mur- 
dering, and  burning  as  they  went.  It  seemed  for  a 
time  as  if  civil  government  would  be  broken  to  pieces 
by  these  two  mortal  foes  to  order,  the  guerrillas  and 
the  provost  marshals.  Even  the  small  bands  of  Federal 
soldiers  pursuing  the  guerrillas  learned  so  far  to  imitate 
their  ways  that  Burbridge  himself  was  compelled  to 
issue  an  order  providing  severe  punishments  for  out- 
rages by  the  Union  troops.  All  these  accumulating 
evils  showed  how  true  was  the  iustinct  of  the  people 
of  Kentucky  who  strove  to  keep  the  machinery  of  their 
civil  system  intact.  There  is  a  government  by  armies, 
and  a  government  by  citizens,  but  the  two  can  never 
be  blended  without  the  utmost  danger  to  the  State. 

It  is  the  painful  duty  of  the  historian  to  go  yet  fur- 
ther in  the  history  of  this  pernicious  system  that  was 
developed  by  General  Burbridge's  agents.  All  that  he 
did  in  the  effort  to  suppress  the  guerrillas  and  to  clear 
the  State  of  treason  may  be  set  down  as  grave  blunders 
of  a  brave,  well-meaning,  though  most  misguided  sol- 
dier. The  next  series  of  acts  had,  it  was  generally  be- 
lieved, the  purpose  of  improperly  taking  money  from 
the  farmers  of  the  State. 

The  first  step,  in  this  new  class  of  inflictions,  was  to 
order  the  farmers  to  sell  their  pigs  to  designated  agents 
at  a,  fair  price  ;  next  Burbridge  commanded  that  no  pigs 
should  be  sent  out  of  the  State  without  a  special  permit, 
but  should  be  sold  to  the  aforesaid  specified  agents. 
These  agents  offered  a  price  considerably  below  that 
paid  in  the  Cincinnati  market.  The  ostensible  reason 
of  this  action  was  that   the    Federal  government  had 


THE  END    OF  TUE    WAR.  353 

given  a  contract  to  certain  parties  in  Louisville  to  fur- 
nish one  hundred  thousand  head  of  swine,  and  that  if 
the  farmers  were  allowed  to  sell  in  their  natural  mar- 
kets the  contractors  would  not  be  able  to  obtain  a  suffi- 
cient  supply.1 

General  Burbridge's  agents  supported  this  demand  by 
many  threats  of  confiscation  and  other  penalties.  Nat- 
urally the  beginning  of  a  system  of  confiscation  of  pri- 
vate property  aroused  an  even  more  general  and  furious 
indignation  than  the  mere  political  acts  of  oppression. 
Here  again  the  protests  of  the  State  government  were 
heard  by  Lincoln,  and  after  about  a  month  of  wrestle 
with  the  evil,  Burbridge's  famous  "  hog  order  "  was  re- 
voked by  the  Federal  government.  Notwithstanding 
the  revocation  of  this  order,  General  Burbridge  was  re- 
tained in  command  for  some  months  afterwards,  but 
the  citizens  were  yet  to  suffer  for  some  months  under 
this  man  more  exasperating  inflictions  than  came  to 
them  from  the  honorable  war  of  other  years.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  people  of  Kentucky  endured 
far  more  outrage  from  the  acts  of  the  Federal  provost 
marshals  than  they  did  from  all  the  acts  of  legitimate 
war  put  together. 

The  military  events  of  1864,  apart  from  the  incessant 
though  trifling  encounters  with  guerrillas,  were  limited. 
The  hard-pressed  armies  of  the  Confederacy  could  not 
spare  men  to  threaten  Kentucky  with  invasion  in  force. 
On  the  25th  of  March  Forrest  attacked  Paducah,  on 
the  Ohio,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee.  It  was  de- 
fended by  Colonel  Hicks,  with  a  part  of  the  16th  Cav- 
alry, a  portion  of  the  122d  Illinois,  and  a  small  body  of 
negro  troops.     Forrest  exhibited  his  usual  courage  and 

i  Collins,  i.  145. 
23 


354  KENTUCKY. 

his  usual  ill-judgment  iu  some  fierce  assaults  on  Fort 
Anderson,  which  was  held  by  the  intrepid  Hicks,  with 
the  aid  of  the  gunboats  Peosta  and  Paw-paw.  For- 
rest, after  two  days'  battle,  was  finally  beaten  off  with 
great  loss.     The  Federal  loss  was  one  hundred  men. 

The  only  other  operation  of  importance  was  the  last 
raid  of  Morgan  into  the  Commonwealth.  He  came  with 
a  force  of  two  thousand  three  hundred  men.  This  time 
he  came  by  way  of  the  eastern  line  of  the  State.  He 
slipped  by  Burbridge,  who  was  watching  for  him  in  Pike 
County,  and  quickly  made  his  way  to  Mount  Stirling, 
which  he  captured,  after  a  vigorous  resistance,  from 
Captain  Barlow,  of  the  40th  Kentucky,  who  had  but 
seventy  men.  He  next,  with  a  part  of  his  force,  tried 
to  take  Lexington,  but,  after  some  successes,  was  beaten 
off  by  the  4th  Kentucky  cavalry. 

While  engaged  in  foraging  and  burning' bridges  on 
his  old  "  stamping  ground,"  his  force  was  surprised  in 
the  night  by  three  brigades  of  Federal  cavalry,  under 
the  command  of  the  gallant  Colonel  John  Mason  Brown, 
which  by  a  forced  march  of  ninety  miles  in  thirty  hours 
came  up  with  a  part  of  the  Confederate  force,  though 
Morgan  was  himself  then  near  Lexington.  In  the  con- 
fusion and  the  darkness  the  Confederates  escaped,  after 
losing  about  two  hundred  men.  Burbridge's  men,  ex- 
hausted by  their  long  march,  were  in  no  condition  for 
pursuit.  Morgan  with  his  men,  refreshed  hy  his  rest 
near  Lexington,  pushed  on  to  Cynthiana,  where,  with 
his  usual  fortune,  he  was  successful  in  capturing  a  train 
with  several  hundred  troops,  who  were  looking  for  him. 
The  town  was  defended  by  a  force  of  Home  Guards, 
who  made  a  very  obstinate  resistance,  fighting  from 
building  to  building  until  a  large  part  of  the  town  was 
burned  and  severe  punishment  inflicted  on  the  enemy. 


THE   END   OF    THE    WAR.  355 

While  one  part  of  Morgan's  force  was  engaged  in  the 
battle  at  Cynthiana,  another  part  was  trying  to  get 
possession  of  Frankfort.  The  latter  place  is  strong  by 
nature  of  its  environing  hills,  and  had  a  few  small  forts 
defending  the  approaches.  The  governor,  the  citizens, 
and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  troops  made  a  brilliant 
defense  against  two  assaults,  and  repulsed  the  enemy. 
On  the  12th,  Burbridge,  who  was  as  effective  as  a  sol- 
dier as  he  was  incompetent  in  civil  affairs,  made  another 
forced  march  from  Mount  Sterling,  and  struck  Mor- 
gan's force  with  a  superior  number  of  cavalry.  After  an 
hour's  fight  the  whole  of  Morgan's  force  was  broken, 
with  a  heavy  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  and  several 
hundred  prisoners. 

Gathering  the  remnants  of  his  command,  shorn  of 
half  of  its  original  strength,  Morgan  fell  swiftly  back 
through  Eastern  I^pntucky  into  Southwestern  Virginia. 
Three  months  afterward,  on  September  4th,  this  re- 
markable soldier  was  shot  while  endeavoring  to  escape 
from  a  force  that  had  surrounded  the  house,  in  East 
Tennessee,  in  which  he  had  lodged,  at  some  distance 
from  his  command.  Thus  ended  the  life  of  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  soldiers  that  this  country  has  ever  pro- 
duced. 

The  other  military  operations  of  importance  were  two 
extensive  raids  by  Burbridge  and  his  mounted  men  into 
Southwestern  Virginia.  These  movements  were  in- 
tended to  break  up  the  important  salt  works  of  that 
country,  which  supplied  the  Confederacy  with  that  nec- 
essary element  of  their  rations,  and  to  destroy  the  lines 
of  communication  that  connected  Richmond  with  the 
Southwest.  The  forces  engaged  wore  principally  com- 
posed of  mounted  Kentucky  troops.     Their  movements 


356  KENTUCKY. 

had  nothing  of  the  brilliancy  and  dash  of  Morgan's 
movements,  yet  they  served  to  show  how  penetrable 
was  the  once  strong  wall  of  the  Confederacy.  The  work 
was  accomplished  with  no  great  loss  of  life  on  either 
side,  but  the  Confederacy  received  a  telling  blow  upon 
its  resources  of  war. 

Outside  the  State  the  successive  great  battles  in  Geor- 
gia and  Tennessee  took  a  heavy  toll  of  the  life  of  Ken- 
tucky that  was  in  the  armies  of  either  side.  The  hun- 
dreds of  skirmishes  with  guerrillas  and  raiding  parties 
within  the  State  were  even  more  fatal  than  the  regular 
warfare.  It  is  possible  that  1864  was  the  most  de- 
structive year  of  the  war  to  the  citizens  of  Kentucky, 
whether  fighting  in  the  armies  or  skirmishing  by  their 
firesides.  It  is  not  possible  to  compute  the  loss  of  men 
from  these  various  forms  of  fighting,  but  it  seems  prob- 
able that  not  less  than  five  thous^id  were  killed  or 
disabled  by  gunshot  wounds  within  the  year. 

Stronc  as  was  this  draft  on  the  manhood  of  the  State 
the  supply  of  troops  continued.  For  a  time,  in  the 
worst  fury  of  the  wordy  combat  between  the  State  and 
the  Federal  authorities,  the  enlistments  fell  off  and  the 
Federal  government  ordered  a  draft. 

An  effort  was  made  to  carry  out  this  selection  by  lot 
in  certain  couuties,  but  it  utterly  failed  to  furnish  men. 
The  conscripts  to  a  great  extent  went  into  the  guer- 
rilla bands,  and  many  hundreds  joined  the  Confederate 
army.  A  very  large  part  of  those  chosen  were  found 
to  be  suffering  from  disabilities  unfitting  them  for  sol- 
diers' work.  At  this  time,  at  least  four  fifths  of  the 
men  fit  for  military  life  were  in  either  army.  Still  the 
effort  at  conscription  stung  the  pride  of  the  Kentucky 
people,  who  could   not   bear  the  idea  that  it  should  go 


THE  END   OF   THE    WAR.  357 

into  history  that  iu  a  war  the  people  of  the  Common- 
wealth were  driven  to  the  lines  of  battle.  Many  men 
who  had  been  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  had  on  one 
ground  and  another  returned  to  the  State,  enlisted  in 
order  to  relieve  their  State  of  this  reproach.  On  Jan- 
uary 1,  1865,  the  quota  of  the  State  was  full.  Out  of 
a  total  enrollment  of  133,493,  of  military  age,  eighteen 
to  forty-five,  the  State,  had  furnished  and  mustered  into 
the  United  States  service  70,33.5.  About  7,000  more 
enlisted,  but  were  not  mustered  in,  making  a  total  of 
about  83,000  men.  Besides  these  there  was  a  force 
that  may  be  counted  as  10,000  men,  who  were  engaged 
.  as  Home  Guards,  or,  altogether,  nearly  one  tenth  of  the 
total  population  of  the  State.  Add  to  this  at  least 
40,000  men  of  military  age  out  of  the  State  in  the  mil- 
itary service  of  the  Confederacy,  and  we  have  a  larger 
per  cent,  of  the  population  given  to  war  than  has  ever 
been  furnished  by  any  modern  State  in  the  term  of 
three  years. 

These  estimates  are  given  on  the  authority  of  Gen- 
eral Finnell,  Adjutant-General  of  Kentucky  during  the 
last  three  years  of  the  war.  During  these  years  of  trial 
the  State  furnished  almost  as  many  men  to  military 
service  as  had  ever  voted  in  any  election.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  these  men  were  volunteers  from 
the  citizens  of  the  State,  and  that  they  were  in  no  part 
composed  of  the  substitutes  who  formed  so  large  a  part 
of  the  forces  from  the  most  of  the  Northern  States.  It 
should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  at  this  time  in  her 
history  Kentucky  had  for  years  been  sending  a  large 
part  of  her  youth  as  colonists  to  the  other  States  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  Thousands  of  them  were  in  the 
regiments  of  the  other  Western  States. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE    STRUGGLE    FOR    CIVIL    GOVERNMENT. 

January,  1865,  brought  some  lightening  of  the 
clouds  that  had  hung  over  the  State  for  the  previous 
four  years.  President  Lincoln  annulled  the  iniquitous 
orders  concerning  the  limitations  of  trade  in  Kentucky, 
and  the  Confederate  government  at  last,  and  hardly 
soon  enough  for  their  honor,  took  steps  finally  to  disa- 
vow the  action  of  the  guerrillas  in  the  State.  For  many 
months  the  regular  troops  of  the  Confederacy  had  re- 
pudiated all  connection  with  these  outlaws,  and  even  in 
some  cases  had  joined  with  the  Home  Guards  in  hunt- 
ing them  down. 

The  legislature  met  under  circumstances  of  a  very 
exasperating  nature.  The  lieutenant-governor  and  pres- 
ident of  the  senate,  Colonel  Richard  T.  Jacob,  a  gal- 
lant soldier  in  the  Federal  army,  had  been  arrested  and 
sent  into  the  Confederacy  by  General  Burbridge,  be- 
cause he  dared  to  criticise  in  a  public  manner  the  con- 
duct of  the  Federal  authorities  in  their  management  of 
affairs  in  Kentucky.  There  is  no  sort  of  question  that 
this  gallant  officer  and  devoted  Union  man  was  abso- 
lutely loyal  to  the  national  government ;  to  it  he  had 
given  all  that  a  devoted  soldier  can  give,  save  his  life. 
At  the  same  time  Colonel  Wolford,  a  partisan  com- 
mander, who  had  done  excellent  service  with  his  regi- 
ment of  irregular  cavalry,  was   subjected  to   the  same 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.     359 

treatment.  Even  in  his  criticisms  of  the  government  ho 
made  it  always  clear  that  his  resistance  was  to  tho 
illegal  action  of  the  Federal  authorities  and  not  to  tho 
government  which  they  disgraced. 

Early  in  February,  Lieutenant-Governor  Jacob  es- 
caped from  the  Confederate  lines  and  returned  to  his 
{dace  in  the  senate.  This  banishment  of  Jacob  and 
Wolford  was  followed  by  an  order  from  General  Bur- 
bridge  to  his  subordinates  to  resist  the  State  govern- 
ment, which  was  at  that  time  trying  to  raise  a  sufficient 
force  of  State  troops  to  hunt  down  and  crush  out  the 
guerrilla  bands.  Burbridge  not  only  sought  to  nullify 
this  action  of  the  Commonwealth  in  raising  new  troops, 
but  ordered  the  muster-out  of  all  the  State  troops  now 
in  service. 

Soon  after  the  assembly  of  the  legislature  a  commit- 
tee was  appointed  to  visit  Washington  and  lay  before 
the  President  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  Common- 
wealth due  to  the  conduct  of  Burbridge  and  his  party. 
The  remonstrances  of  these  ambassadors,  and  the  atten- 
tion which  Burbridge's  acts  had  begun  to  attract  in  the 
whole  country,  led  to  his  removal  from  command,  thus 
relieving  the  State  from  the  rule  of  a  man  who  has  been 
well  named  the  "  military  Jeffreys "  of  the  war.  He 
was  replaced  by  General  Palmer,  a  man  of  much  better 
temper,  who,  though  he  fell  under  the  same  evil  influ- 
ences which  had  guided  Burbridge  in  his  course,  never 
disgraced  his  calling. 

The  people  now  began  to  act  with  more  energy  in 
the  suppression  of  the  guerrilla  warfare.  The  small 
Confederate  bands,  from  time  to  time  within  the  State, 
did  not  hesitate  to  treat  them  as  public  enemies.  A 
large  part  of  the  motive  that  led  even  decent  citizens 


300  KENTUCKY. 

to  take  up  with  these  marauding  bands,  or  to  give  them 
aid  and  comfort,  came  from  a  spirit  of  protest  against 
the  arbitrary  acts  of  the  Federal  officers.  As  soon  as 
there  seemed  a  chance  that  these  evils  were  about  to  be 
mitigated,  the  people  felt  like  regaining  for  themselves 
a  better  public  security,  and  took  efficient  steps  for  their 
protection. 

In  February  the  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  was  presented  to  the  legislature  for  ac- 
tion. This  amendment  provided  for  the  unconditional 
abolition  of  slavery  within  the  United  States,  but  did 
not  secure  any  compensation  for  the  value  of  the  slaves 
within  the  loyal  States.  The  subject  was  referred  to 
the  judiciary  committee  of  the  State  senate.  Two  re- 
ports were  made :  one,  the  majority,  favoring  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  amendment ;  the  other  its  acceptance,  with 
the  request  that  Congress  give  compensation  for  the 
value  of  slaves  held  by  owners  who  were  loyal  to  the 
government  during  the  rebellion.  The  majority  re- 
port was  accepted,  both  in  the  senate  and  house :  in  the 
former  by  a  vote  of  twenty -one  to  thirteen  ;  in  the  latter 
by  fifty-six  to  twenty-eight.  The  thirteenth  amendment 
was  soon  after  adopted  by  the  requisite  number  of 
States,  and  in  this  way  slavery  quietly  lost  its  legal  po- 
sition, though  its  life  had  been  practically  extinguished 
by  the  events  of  the  war. 

There  was  among  Kentuckians  a  certaiu  sense  of  dis- 
gust that  this  amendment  should  have  been  adopted 
through  the  vote  of  "reconstructed"  Southern  States, 
with  governments  essentially  fictitious.  Still,  despite 
the  evident  injustice  arising  from  this  appropriation  of 
their  property  without  process  of  law,  not  much  at- 
tention was  paid  to  the  matter.     The  evil  that  came 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT.    361 

from  the  overthrowing  of  their  labor  system  and  the 
disappearance  of  property  valued  for  taxation  at  over 
$100,000,000  in  1860,  and  at  that  time  worth  at  least 
double  this  amount,  was  forgotten  in  the  anticipation  of 
a  happy  end  of  greater  ills.  As  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  slavery  had  a  small  place  in  the  public  mind,  so  this 
last  step  in  its  overthrow  found  the  people  with  only  a 
languid  interest  in  its  pecuniary  importance. 

When,  on  April  13th,  Johnston's  army  surrendered 
to  Sherman,  an  almost  universal  cry  of  joy  went  up 
from  the  people  of  Kentucky.  The  past  losses  and 
trials  were  forgotten.  Although  the  better  part  of  its 
population  was  dead,  wounded,  or  worn  out  by  the  fa- 
tigues of  hard  campaigns,  which  generally  leave  chronic 
troubles  that  are  often  more  destructive  to  vitality  than 
those  of  sword  or  ball,  a  wonderful  uplift  of  hope  came 
upon  the  people.  At  the  moment,  they  thought  all 
their  trials  over.  None  imagined  that  the  war  was  to 
draw  consequences  in  its  train  that  would  keep  them 
disturbed  for  many  years  to  come. 

This  sense  of  strength  and  new  life  manifested  itself 
in  many  ways.  Even  before  the  war  was  finished,  but 
when  the  movement  of  Sherman  to  Savannah  showed 
that  the  end  was  at  hand,  the  legislature  passed  an  act 
accepting  the  gift  of  the  Federal  government  to  found 
an  agricultural  school,  and  arranged  at  the  same  time 
to  add  to  it  the  other  departments  necessary  to  make 
a  school  that  would  have  some  of  the  qualities  of  a 
university.  Some  intelligent  citizens,  led  by  Colonel 
J.  B.  Bowman,  arranged  for  the  consolidation  of  the 
old  Transylvania  University  with  a  college  then  at 
Harrodsburg,  known  as  the  Kentucky  University,  which, 
with  the  agricultural  college,  were  to  be  placed  at  Lex- 


362  KENTUCKY. 

ington,  in  the  old  Transylvania  buildings,  and  in  the 
neighboring  county.  The  whole  was  added  to  by  sub- 
scriptions among  the  people,  amounting  to  $200,000, 
made  while  the  State  was  still  struggling  with  the  guer- 
rilla bands,  and  trying  to  save  its  social  order  from  the 
peril  these  disturbances  brought  upon  it.  Provision 
was  made  for  an  increase  of  the  school  taxes  in  the 
local  districts.  In  many  other  ways  the  Commonwealth 
now  showed  its  recuperative  power. 

It  was  some  time  before  the  old  troubles  with  ma- 
rauding bands  were  quieted,  but  the  State  forces  indus- 
triously hunted  them  down,  and  the  more  decent  mem- 
bers of  these  gangs  at  once  crept  back  to  civil  life. 

By  the  1st  of  July  the  State  was  so  secured  in  its 
position  that  with  perfect  safety  the  Federal  troops 
could  have  been  withdrawn  from  the  State,  and  the  civil 
government  left  to  go  its  appointed  way.  This  was, 
unhappily,  not  to  be.  The  appetite  for  military  methods 
had  gained  a  very  strong  hold  in  the  United  States. 
The  armies  came  home,  and  went  again  to  their  fields 
and  firesides,  or,  where  these  were  no  more,  began  again 
to  create  for  themselves  places  in  the  world.  There 
were  no  better  and  more  peaceful  citizens  than  the  vet- 
erans of  the  two  armies,  and  no  relations  were  ever 
more  friendly  than  those  between  the  men  who  learned 
to  respect  each  other's  manliness  in  a  war  that  tried 
them  well.  Yet  it  suited  the  purpose  of  a  political  body 
that  had  fattened  on  the  system  of  passes  and  permits 
and  the  other  profitable  complications  of  the  Civil  War, 
to  maintain  in  time  of  peace  a  system  that  had  its  only 
justification  in  the  hard  conditions  of  war,  if  it  can  find 
justification  at  all. 

If  Lincoln  had  survived  we  may  well  believe  that  his 


TTIE  STRUGGLE  FOR  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT.   363 

admirable  good  sense,  which  enabled  him  to  help  his 
native  State  whenever  he  could  see  her  trouble,  would 
have  removed  these  barriers  to  the  tide  of  peace  and 
good  will  that  came  like  a  Hood  upon  the  people.  His 
death  and  his  replacement  by  a  cheap  and  small-minded 
man  brought  on  the  Last  ami  most  painful  stage  of  the 
struggle,  that  in  which  a  disarmed  and  war-worn  peo- 
ple were  driven  to  light  for  the  elementary  rights  of 
good  government  against  the  tyrannous  exactions  of  a 
political  junta  which  was  insensible  to  the  nobility  of 
the  victory. 

Fortunately  for  Kentucky  it  was  not  possible  for  the 
party  in  power  to  sink  the  State  to  the  depths  of  po- 
litical degradation  into  which  all  the  rebellious  States 
were  at  once  plunged.  There  was  no  valid  pretense  at 
hand  for  overthrowing  the  machinery  of  the  State  gov- 
ernment, though  there  was  every  evidence  of  a  desire 
to  do  so.  Her  sufferings  were  trifling  compared  with 
those  of  the  States  in  that  hell  on  earth,  the  recon- 
structed South ;  still,  as  we  shall  see,  even  Kentucky 
had  a  time  of  purgatorial  existence,  which  delayed  the 
period  of  quiet  and  left  a  mass  of  painful  memories 
that  will  hardly  ever  be  forgotten. 

The  first  evidence  that  the  Federal  authorities  were 
unwilling  to  accept  the  end  of  the  war  as  the  begin- 
ning of  peace  came  in  the  August  election  of  18G4. 
The  expatriation  laws  passed  in  former  years  being  still 
in  force,  the  returned  Confederates  were  not,  in  the 
terms  of  the  law,  citizens  of  Kentucky,  and  were  not 
allowed  to  vote.  Governor  Bramlette  suitably  warned 
the  officers  of  election  within  the  State  to  this  effect  by 
means  of  a  proclamation.  This  act  of  expatriation  had 
been  declared  unconstitutional    by   two  judges   of  the 


3H4  KENTUCKY. 

State  courts,  and  there  was  a  general  feeling  that  as 
the  war  was  over  the  legislation  on  which  this  exclu- 
sion rested  was  revoked  by  the  issue  of  the  war.1  This 
was  properly  a  State  question,  and  the  impropriety  of 
Federal  interference  was  clear  ;  yet  in  this  election  many 
polling  places  were  surrounded  by  Federal  soldiers,  who 
undertook  to  purge  the  poll.  In  some  cases  negro  sol- 
diers were  used  for  this  exasperating  work,  apparently 
with  the  intention  of  making  the  act  as  offensive  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  result  of  this  interference  with  the  polls  was  to 
still  further  widen  the  breach  between  the  Radical  and 
Conservative  parties.  There  was  only  one  State  officer, 
a  treasurer,  to  be  elected,  and  for  this  office  the  Conser- 
vative candidate  had  42,187,  and  his  opponent,  a  more 
radical  Union  man,  42,082.  The  size  of  the  vote  in  a 
contested  election  shows  that  the  ex-rebel  element  did 
not  take  part  in  it.  Two  Conservative  congressmen 
were  elected  to  four  Radical  members,  and  the  com- 
plexion of  the  State  legislature  was  utterly  changed. 
The  senate  now  stood  twenty  Conservatives  to  eighteen 
Radicals,  a  majority  of  the  latter  holding  over  from  the 
last  election,  while  the  house  stood  sixty  Conservatives 
to  forty  Radicals.  In  this  remarkable  political  revolu- 
tion we  behold  the  work  of  Burbridge  and  his  like. 
In  two  years  they  did  what  neither  the  Confederate 
solicitations  nor  arms  could  do  ;  they  had  driven  the 
people  not  out  of  their  affection  for  the  cause  of  the 
national  constitution,  but  out  of  all  sympathy  with  the 
ways  of  its  representatives  then  in  power. 

A  more   complete  or  more  wholesome  political  dis- 
content never  affected   the  Kentucky  people.     A  con- 
i  See  Collins,  i.  p.  163. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT.    3G5 

test  into  which  they  had  entered  with  really  noble  emo- 
tions had  degenerated  into  a  petty  political  game.  They 
felt  that  their  vast  sacrifices  had  brought  them  sore  evils 
for  reward. 

The  good  humor  arising  from  the  end  of  the  war 
was  still  further  disturbed  by  innumerable  interferences 
with  every  form  of  civil  life.  These  cases  are  far  too 
numerous  for  separate  noting.  This  may  serve  as  a 
sample :  A  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Church  was  im- 
prisoned because  he  opposed  a  union  between  the  North 
and  South  wings  of  his  church,  and  was  detained  in 
confinement  without  trial  until  October,  1865  ;  for  al- 
though the  war  was  over,  martial  law  was  maintained 
in  Kentucky.  Every  petty  officer  commanding  a  post 
had  summary  jurisdiction  over  the  persons  of  the  peo- 
ple, which  he  could  exercise  to  gratify  private  malice 
or  to  increase  his  sense  of  personal  importance. 

When,  on  November  30th,  the  other  border  States 
were  relieved  from  the  suspension  of  the  right  of  habeas 
corpus,  this  writ  was  not  restored  to  Kentucky.1     Two 

1  The  long  continuance  of  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act 
in  Kentucky,  after  it  had  been  restored  to  the  other  border  States,  is 
to  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  Republican  party  secured  sub- 
stantial control  of  the  other  States,  while  Kentucky,  though  she  had 
been  the  only  one  of  the  slave-holding  States  that  had  shown  a  very 
decided  loyalty  to  the  Federal  cause,  had  eluded  all  the  efforts  of  the 
Republican  leaders  to  cajole  or  coerce  her  into  its  fold.  They  chose 
to  assume  that  Kentucky  was  at  this  time  disloyal,  hostility  to  their 
party  and  disloyalty  being  then  to  their  minds  synonymous  terms.  At 
this  time  the  Republican  party  was  principally  in  the  control  of  men 
who  had  no  knowledge  of  the  war,  no  sympathy  with  its  sufferings  or 
its  nobler  emotions.  They  had  received  great  political,  and  often  great 
pecuniary,  profit  from  its  events.  Unhesitatingly  they  stigmatized  as 
disloyal  the  Commonwealth  which  had  given  as  large  a  share  of  its 
life  and  treasure  to  maintain  the  Union  as  any  other  State,  which  had 
borne  patiently  and  unflinchingly  the  most  grievous  burdens  of  the 
struggle,  and  had  in  fact  clung  more  closely  to  the  traditions  of  the 
Union  than  any  other  part  of  the  country. 


366  KENTUCKY. 

years  had  now  elapsed  since  this  writ  was  suspended ; 
the  people  had  borne  with  the  loss  of  this,  the  dearest 
right  of  a  free  people,  during  the  trials  of  actual  war 
impatiently  at  times,  but  on  the  whole  with  becoming 
calmness  ;  now,  when  the  State  was  free  from  disturb- 
ances which  the  civil  law  could  not  control,  this  vassal- 
age to  the  military  arm  became  intolerable. 

At  this  stage  of  their  troubles  new  evils  developed  in 
the  conduct  of  the  Freedman's  Bureau.  This  organiza- 
tion was  probably  necessary  in  the  States  that  had  been 
in  the  rebellion,  but  there  was  nothing  in  the  relations 
between  the  negro  and  the  white  races  in  Kentucky  that 
made  it  necessary  to  extend  its  operations  to  that  State. 

The  first  work  of  the  bureau  was  well  calculated  to 
breed  difficulty.  An  act  of  Congress,  passed  after  the 
emancipation  proclamation,  which,  as  is  well  known,  did 
not  affect  slavery  in  Kentucky,  provided  that  the  wives 
and  children  of  negroes  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
army  should  be  free.  This  act  was  clearly  unconstitu- 
tional, as  it  deprived  people  of  property  without  due 
process  of  law.  There  were  many  thousand  women 
and  children  in  Kentucky  belonging  in  the  families  of 
black  soldiers.  The  Freedman's  Bureau  undertook  to 
compel  the  owners  of  these  people  to  pay  them  wages 
for  all  the  time  that  had  elapsed  since  the  enlistment  of 
their  fathers  and  husbands.  The  first  suit  was  brought 
against  the  distinguished  Garrett  Davis,  senator  from 
Kentucky,  one  of  the  most  resolute  Union  men  in  the 
State,  one  who  may  be  ranked  with  those  who  had  done 
the  most  for  the  Union  cause.  These  prosecutions  were 
entirely  fruitless,  save  in  the  further  irritation  of  the 
people,  which  seems  to  have  been  their  whole  purpose. 

When  the  legislature  met  in  December,  18G5,  it  was 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.     867 

found  to  be  more  reactionary  than  it  was  supposed  to 
be  at  the  time  of  the  election.  It  at  once  proceeded  to 
clear  away  the  whole  of  the  legislation  that  alienated 
and  disfranchised  those  lately  in  the  Confederate  army. 
By  twenty-one  to  fifteen  in  the  senate,  and  sixty-two 
to  thirty-three  in  the  house,  it  repealed  the  law  that 
consigned  to  the  penitentiary  those  Confederate  soldiers 
who  invaded  the  State.  It  repealed  the  expatriation 
act  by  a  vote  of  twenty-two  to  twelve  in  the  senate,  and 
sixty-two  to  thirty-three  in  the  house.1  All  the  other 
laws  passed  to  disqualify  or  punish  persons  for  sympa- 
thy with  the  rebellion  were  swept  away.  There  can  be 
no  question  of  the  wisdom  of  this  action ;  the  returned 
Confederates  included  a  very  valuable  portion  of  the 
State  life,  and  their  restoration  to  citizenship  dictated  by 
a  sound  statesmanship  had  only  good  consequences.  The 
dangers  arising  from  the  animosities  of  the  war  were  at 
once  done  away  with,  and  the  breaches  that  were  made 
in  the  society  of  the  rebellious  States  by  the  continued 
disfranchisement  of  its  citizens  were  avoided.  It  was 
an  absolutely  safe  measure,  considered  even  from  the 
point  of  view  of  Federal  politics.  The  experience  of 
the  Confederate  soldiers  in  the  years  gone  by  had  de- 
stroyed all  desire  of  resistance  to  the  Federal  authority. 
It  is  doubtful  if  these  men  had  been  polled  after  their 
return  to  Kentucky  whether  they  would  have  voted  for 
a  peaceable  secession  of  the  Confederate  States.  The 
problem  of  secession  had  been  worked  out  to  the  end ; 
the  result  was  generally  accepted  by  the  soldiers  of 
the  Confederacy  as  final. 

To  have  maintained  the  isolation  of  these  returned 
Confederates  would  have  been  an  act  of  political  mad- 
1  Collins,  i.  1G6. 


368  KENTUCKY. 

ness,  and  in  receiving  them  in  friendliness,  the  State  of 
Kentucky  did  an  act  that  unfortunately  was  not  imi- 
tated by  the  Federal  government.  When  in  the  centu- 
ries to  come  the  historian  looks  over  the  graves  of  all 
those  who  took  part  in  the  Civil  War,  and  sees  their 
acts  cleared  of  all  the  cloud  of  prejudice  that  even  now 
envelops  them,  we  must  believe  that  these  acts  of  rec- 
onciliation will  stand  forth  as  the  noblest  features  in 
the  history  of  this  Commonwealth.  He  will  see  in  them 
the  best  possible  evidence  of  the  civil  strength,  of  the 
State  making  and  State  preserving  power,  of  this  peo- 
ple. He  will  certainly  note  the  fact  that  the  Union 
party  in  a  border  State,  when  passions  were  infuriated 
in  the  presence  of  immediate  war,  had  a  higher  element 
of  reason  in  their  action  than  was  found  in  the  whole 
Federal  Union,  the  greater  and  dominant  part  of  which 
saw  nothing  of  war  except  in  the  miud's  eye. 

The  last  important  problem  left  by  the  war  was  the 
question  of  negro  testimony  in  the  courts.  The  old 
slavery  laws  in  Kentucky  limited  the  testimony  of  the 
negro  in  many  ways ;  white  men  could  not  be  convicted 
of  grave  crime  by  their  evidence.  These  laws  should 
have  been  at  once  repealed,  and  it  is  clearly  to  the  dis- 
credit of  the  State  that  they  remained  upon  the  statute 
books  until  1872,  though  negro  testimony  was  admitted 
by  the  courts  in  1871. 1  There  is,  however,  some  ex- 
cuse for  this  delay.  The  Freedman's  Bureau  had  con- 
stituted itself  the  keepers  of  the  whole  negro  popula- 
tion, and  had  in  an  unfortunate  way  removed  them 
from  the  control  of  the  ordinary  civil  law  of  the  State. 
To  the  appeal  for  the  abrogation  of  the  statute  the  peo- 
ple answered,  Do  away  with  this  interference  with  the 
i  Collins,  i.  214. 


TUE  STRUGGLE  FOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.     369 

negroes  and  we  will  give  them  equal  position  before  the 
law.  When  in  LS72  the  end  of  this  system  of  super- 
vision of  the  negro  population  by  the  Freedman's  Bu- 
reau was  abandoned,  the  resistance  to  the  complete  as- 
similation of  the  negro  with  the  white  in  all  matters  of 
the  law  came  about.  The  negro  has  been  found  to  be 
a  very  trustworthy  witness,  and  none  regret  his  full 
admission  to  the  courts. 

The  frictions  between  the  provost  marshals  and  the 
Freedman's  Bureau  on  the  one  side,  and  the  irritated 
and  resisting  people  on  the  other,  bred  a  spirit  of  law- 
lessness that  came  up  after  the  first  trouble  with  the 
guerrillas  had  nearly  passed  away.  This  series  of  dis- 
turbances is  commonly  known  as  the  Ku  Klux  out- 
rages :  as  is  well  known  these  troubles  were  common 
to  the  whole  South.  They  were  less  serious  in  Ken- 
tucky than  elsewhere. 

It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  precise  motive  of  this 
outbreak  of  violence,  but  as  nearly  as  it  can  be  deter- 
mined it  was  as  follows  :  The  sudden  closing  of  the  war 
left  a  considerable  amount  of  social  rubbish  within  tho 
State,  both  white  ami  black.  The  negroes,  as  a  rule, 
behaved  exceedingly  well  in  their  unaccustomed  condi- 
tion, accepting  their  new  lot  of  citizenship  in  an  excel- 
lent spirit ;  but  a  portion  of  them,  especially  those  who 
had  been  employed  in  the  army  as  teamsters  and  as 
camp  servants,  proved  very  troublesome.  Nearly  the 
whole  of  this  part  of  the  negro  people  had  gathered 
into  small  separate  settlements  away  from  their  orig- 
inal homes,  and  were  under  the  influence  of  a  bad  class 
of  white  leaders.  This  demoralized  condition  of  the 
lower  classes  of  blacks  led  to  a  large  amount  of  steal- 
ing ;  no  farmer  could  keep  his  sheep  or  pigs  from  their 
24 


370  KENTUCKY. 

furtive  hands  ;  usually  the  thieving  was  not  accompanied 
by  violence,  but  in  some  cases  the  trouble  was  more  se- 
rious. In  many  counties  the  negroes  organized  them- 
selves into  marauding  bands ;  there  were  a  number  of 
outrages  upon  woineu,  an  offense  that  had  always  been 
particularly  abhorrent  to  the  people  of  Kentucky,  and 
which  they  have  always  visited  with  condign  punish- 
ment. 

In  its  beginning,  at  least  in  Kentucky,  the  Ku  Klux 
Klan  was  probably  designed  to  restrain  and  punish  these 
transgressions.  It  doubtless  in  the  outset  did  certain 
rude  and  effective  justice.  Its  cheap  mystic  accompani- 
ments were  certainly  well  designed  to  strike  terror  to 
the  superstitious  blacks.  When  it  had  accomplished  the 
little  good  that  was  possible  to  a  system  so  fundamen- 
tally evil,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  most  wretched 
class  of  the  population,  the  very  element  it  was  designed 
to  overthrow,  and  became  a  great  curse  to  society. 

For  a  time  the  Ku  Klux  organization  defied  the 
power  of  the  civil  law;  the  secrecy  of  the  action  and 
the  terrorism  exercised  on  witnesses,  made  it  impossible 
to  apply  adequate  punishment  through  the  courts. 

Beginning  in  1866,  this  evil  system  continued  in  in- 
termittent action  until  1873.  Like  most  social  evils  in 
a  vigorous  state,  this  system  finally  brought  about  its 
own  remedy.  For  years  the  country  folk  tolerated  the 
outrages  for  the  profit  that  they  brought  to  them ;  their 
pigs  were  safer,  even  if  the  common  people  of  the 
realm  did  suffer  a  bit.  The  old  dislike  of  lawlessness, 
common  to  well  organized  societies,  was  lessened  by  the 
lonof  time  of  strife.  For  several  years  the  Ku  Klux 
vented  its  outrages  upon  the  essentially  criminal  class, 
the  rough   justice  of  many  of  their  actions  made  the 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.    371 

mass  of  the  people  pardon  their  worst  crimes.  Finally, 
there  came  a  general  sense  that  they  were  going  too 
far,  and  that  they  should  no  longer  be  tolerated.  When 
this  feeling  became  general  they  were  speedily  crushed 
out.  With  the  Ku  Klux  disappeared  the  last  remnant 
of  the  greater  ills  that  came  in  the  train  of  the  war. 

Regarding  the  Ku  Klux  system  and  the  Freedman's 
Bureau  as  the  closing  evils  of  the  war,  we  may  accept 
1873  as  the  last  year  of  that  great  revolution,  which 
began  in  1860,  moved  swiftly  to  the  state  of  war,  raged 
for  four  years  with  a  fury  of  thought,  words,  and  ac- 
tions unequaled  in  any  struggle  of  the  race,  and  then 
for  eight  years  left  its  wreckage  to  trouble  men  weary 
with  the  nobler  part  of  their  great  labor. 

That  part  of  the  development  of  Kentucky  which 
can  be  in  any  proper  sense  termed  historic  ended  in 
1873,  with  the  sweeping  away  of  the  last  cloud  left  by 
the  war;  all  the  rest  of  its  life  is  still  in  the  process  of 
evolution.  Before  we  turn  to  consider  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  State  let  us  bring  before  our  minds  the 
outline  of  these  years  of  rapid  change  through  which 
this  people  had  just  passed.  In  1860,  when  after  in- 
finite debate  Kentucky  slowly  came  to  the  remarkable 
resolution  that  she  would  bar  her  doors  to  the  great 
storm  that  was  about  to  move  heaven  and  earth  about 
her,  the  Commonwealth  was  still  a  mediaeval  society  in 
all  its  essential  qualities ;  the  institution  of  slavery  had 
acted  like  a  pickle  to  preserve  unchanged  much  of  the 
notions  that  belonged  in  other  centuries  of  the  race's 
life.  Her  very  resolution  to  stand  aloof  in  a  war  in 
which  the  nineteenth  century  fought  against  the  sev- 
enteenth, shows  that  the  people,  despite  an  intense  in- 
terest in   politics,   had  not   come   to   a   point   of   view 


372  KENTUCKY. 

whence  they  could  see  where  their  social  life  stood  in 
the  world.  They  were  as  much  out  of  the  world  of 
their  day  as  if  they  had  been  shut  in  on  every  side  by 
mountain  heights;  a  clean-blooded,  land-loving,  fairly 
thrifty  lot,  they  had,  through  their  activities,  not  suf- 
fered any  of  the  degradation  that  comes  to  other  races 
from  their  connection  with  slaves.  They  had  escaped 
the  poverty  of  their  beginnings,  and  had  attained  to  an 
almost  ideal  abundance  of  the  primal  needs  of  civili- 
zation. Their  physical  condition  was  probably  better 
than  that  of  any  other  population  in  the  world.  This 
is  shown  by  the  statistics  of  the  Sanitary  Commission. 

This  beneficent  society  not  only  did  an  admirable 
work  of  charity  during  the  war,  but  it  left  a  valuable 
body  of  fact  in  its  carefully  made  measurements  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men.  These  measurements 
were  so  tabulated  as  to  separate  men  from  different 
parts  of  the  country.  The  results  were  carefully  col- 
lated and  classed  by  the  distinguished  mathematician, 
Dr.  B.  A  Gould,  now  well  known  as  the  astronomer 
of  the  Argentine  Republic.  From  this  excellent  digest 
of  results  of  the  measurements  made  by  the  commission 
the  extracts  given  in  the  accompanying  table  are  taken. 
Dr.  Gould's  results  give  the  measurements  of  troops 
from  Tennessee  and  from  Kentucky,  but  as  those  from 
Kentucky  were  doubtless  far  more  numerous  than  those 
from  Tennessee,  for  the  reason  that  the  Federal  re- 
cruits from  Tennessee  were  relatively  few  in  number, 
we  may  safely  regard  these  tables  as  representing  the 
physical  conditions  of  the  Kentucky  people.  (See  table 
on  page  373.) 

Moreover,  the  general  physical  status  of  the  popula- 
tion in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  is  much  alike,  though 


THE  STRUGGLE  EOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.    373 

A  Table  of  Measurements  of  American  White  Men  compiled  from  Re- 
port of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  made  from  Measurements  of  the 
United  States  Volunteers  daring  the  Civil  War.     By  B.  A.  Gould. 


Mean  IIeigut. 


Nativity. 


New  England 

N.  V.,  N.J.,  Penn.  .    .    . 
Ohio,  Indiana      .... 

Mich.,  Mo.,  Illinois      .     . 
Seaboard  Slave  States  .    . 

Kentucky,  Tenn.       .     .     . 
Free  States  west  of  Miss.  II. 
British  Maritime  Provinces 

Canada 

England 

Scotland 

Ireland 

Germany 

Scandinavia 


No.  of 
men. 


~3 


67.834 
67.529 

68  L69 

67.822 

68.605 
67.419 
67.510 

(iT.osi; 
66.741 
67.25s 
66.951 

66.660 
67.337 


139.39 
140.83 

1 1:,.:;; 
141.78 
140.99 
L49.85 


143.59 
141.35 
137.61 

137. s;, 
139.  IS 
140.37 
148.14 


Mean  CIR- 
cumference 
of  Chest. 


After 
inspii 
tion. 

36.71 

34.11 

3..06 

34.38 

37.53 

34.95 

37.29 

34.d4 

36.64 

34.23 

37.83 

37.53 

34.S4 

37.13 

34  81 

37.14 

34.35 

36.91 

34.30 

37.57 

34.69 

37.54 

35.27 

37.20 

,",1.74 

39.39 

35.37 

g  5  _ 


'  22.02 
22.10 
22.11 
22.19 
21.93 
22.32 
2L97 
22.13 
•22.11 
22.16 
22.23 

22.09 

22.37 


Z     7-, 

'Z  » 
o.B 

g-a 

c   '-> 

CB 

295 
237 

4S6 
466 
1600 
848 
184 
237 
177 
103 
178 
84 
106 
221 


1  Slave  States,  not  including  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

all  who  know  the  two  States  will  doubtless  agree  with 
the  assertion  that  the  Kentucky  people  are  physically 
the  more  vigorous  of  the  two.1     It  should  also  be  no- 

1  Tennessee  lias  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  receive  a  large  amount  of 
blood  derived  from  the  settlements  made  in  the  seventeenth  century 
on  the  waters  of  Pamlico  and  Albemarle  Sounds.  These  people  were 
imported  from  various  parts  of  Europe  by  a  land  company.  A  por- 
tion of  the  population  was  excellent,  but  the  mass  of  it  was  by  far  the 
worst  of  any  brought  to  America  under  English  auspices. 

From  these  settlements  has  come  the  greater  part  of  the  "sand 
hillers,"  "crackers,"  "dirt  eaters,"  "red  necks,"  and  other  oppro- 
briously  named  varieties  of  poor  whites  in  the  South.  Kentucky  has 
been  so  fortunate  as  to  escape  any  large  share  of  this  population. 
Still,  any  one,  whose  eye  is  trained  to  recognize  this  streak  of  blood, 
can  occasionally  identify  families  derived  from  it,  especially  along 
the  southern  border  of  the  State.  The  western  march  of  this  unhappy 
mongrel  people  passed  south  of  Kentucky.  They  may  be  traced 
across  the  country  from  the  Carolina  coast  to  Central  Arkansas  and 
Southern  Missouri. 


374  KENTUCKY. 

ticed  that  the  Confederacy  received  the  youth  and 
strength  from  the  richest  part  of  the  Kentucky  soil. 
The  so-called  Blue  Grass  soil  sent  the  greater  part  of  its 
men  of  the  richer  families  into  the  Confederate  army, 
while  the  Union  troops,  though  from  all  parts  of  the 
State,  came  in  greatest  abundance  from  those  who  dwelt 
on  thinner  soils,  where  the  people  were  of  a  less  ex- 
uberant type  of  body.  It  is  most  likely  that  the  aver- 
ages given  in  the  tables  would  have  been  distinctly 
greater  if  they  had  included  the  thirty  or  forty  thousand 
men  who  went  into  the  rebel  army.  Even  without 
these  corrections  the  form  of  the  men,  as  determined  by 
the  measurement  of  fifty  thousand  troops,  is  surprising. 
Their  average  height  is  nearly  an  inch  greater  than  that 
of  the  New  England  troops,  they  exceed  them  equally 
in  girth  of  chest,  and  the  circumference  of  head  is  also 
very  much  larger.  In  size  they  come  up  to  the  level 
of  the  picked  regiments  of  the  northern  armies  of  Eu- 
rope. Yet  these  results  are  obtained  from  what  was  a 
levy  en  masse,  for  such  in  effect  is  a  call  to  arms  that 
takes  more  than  one  in  ten  of  the  total  population. 

Although  of  fighting  ancestry,  this  people  had  not 
been  generally  inured  to  war  for  more  than  a  genera- 
tion. They  proved,  however,  to  be  excellent  material 
for  the  varied  work  of  soldiers.  Of  the  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  or  more  Kentucky  men  who  bore  arms 
during  the  Civil  War  a  very  good  report  can  be  given. 
Both  as  infantry  and  cavalry  they  did  exceedingly  effec- 
tive service  in  both  armies.  The  Kentucky  troops  in 
the  Confederate  army  being  fewer  in  number,  and  from 
the  richer  and  more  educated  part  of  the  State,  were  as 
a  whole  a  finer  body  of  men  than  the  Federal  troops 
from  the  Commonwealth.     The  rebel  exiles  were  the 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.     375 

first  running  from  the  press,  and  naturally  had  the  pe- 
culiar quality  of  their  vintage  more  clearly  marked  than 
the  later  product.  We  find  in  this  remarkable  body 
of  men  a  great  capacity  at  once  for  dash  and  for  en- 
durance. The  force  under  Morgan,  which  owed  its  pe- 
culiar excellence  more  to  the  quality  of  the  men  and 
subordinate  commanders  than  to  the  distinguished  leader, 
developed  a  new  feature  in  the  art  of  war ;  vigilance, 
daring,  fertility  of  resource,  a  race-horse  power  of  hurl- 
ing all  the  husbanded  force  of  body  and  mind  into  a 
period  of  ceaseless  activity,  were  necessary  for  these 
wonderful  raids.  It  is  commonly  supposed  that  the 
French  are  the  masters  of  light  cavalry  operations,  but 
all  the  history  of  its  famous  cavalry  does  not  afford  such 
a  record  as  may  be  found  in  one  of  Morgan's  many 
raids.1  The  reader,  unless  perchance  his  experience  aid 
him,  will  not  be  able  to  imagine  the  native  force  and 
endurance  that  is  required  for  such  work.  To  break 
through  the  lines  of  the  enemy,  to  live  for  weeks  in  an 
atmosphere  of  battle,  righting  and  destroying  by  day 
and  marching  by  night,  makes  a  life  that  only  men  of 
very  tough  fibre  can  endure.  If  we  desire  evidence  that 
the  men  of  Kentucky  were  of  good  condition,  we  can 
perhaps  find  the  best  proof  of  it  in  the  history  of  the 
light  cavalry  brigades  that  they  furnished  to  the  Con- 
federate army. 

The  history  of  the  Federal  brigades  of  mounted 
troops  makes  almost  as  good  a  showing  for  these  quali- 
ties.   They  lacked  subordinate  officers  of  Morgan's  type. 

1  The  reader  will  find  himself  repaid  by  a  reading  of  the  excellent 
History  of  Morgan's  Cavalry,  by  General  ISasil  W.  Duke,  a  soldier 
not  second  to  his  chief  in  ability,  and  to  whom  a  large  part  of  the 
efficiency  of  that  command  was  due. 


376  KENTUCKY. 

There  were  many  excellent  men  among  her  officers, 
but  no  one  brigade  had  such  lieutenants  as  Basil  Duke, 
Hines,  Howard  Smith,  Grigsby,  and  a  host  of  other  ex- 
traordinary men  that  led  his  forces.1  A  curious  feature 
in  the  history  of  Morgan's  command  was  that  it  was 
officered  and  controlled  almost  entirely  by  persons  of  no 
military  education,  —  Grigsby,  who  came  into  it  late  in 
the  service,  being  the  only  West  Pointer  in  the  force. 
The  nearly  uniform  failure  of  civilian  commanders  in 
the  larger  operations  of  the  war  is  in  striking  contrast 
with  the  admirable  success  of  untrained  men  in  this  pe- 
culiar field  of  action. 

The  success  of  the  Kentucky  troops  in  the  infantry 
service  was  as  marked  as  that  of  the  mounted  arm.  Of 
their  soldierly  quality  and  endurance  a  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  First  Kentucky  Confederate  Brigade,  given 
in  outline  in  the  foot-note,  must  serve  as  a  sample.2 

1  That  these  men  who  made  Morgan's  brigade  so  able  were  not  mere 
madcap  soldiers  is  proven  by  the  subsequent  history  of  those  who 
survived  their  perilous  and  weary  service.  Basil  Duke  is  now  a  dis- 
tinguished lawyer;  Hines,  the  chief  justice  of  Kentucky;  Howard 
Smith  was  long  the  auditor  of  Kentucky,  and  is  now  its  railway 
commissioner;  Grigsby,  now  dead,  worn  out  by  his  wounds,  was  a 
prominent  legislator  and  a  most  valuable  citizen;  a  host  of  other 
names  could  be  added  to  these. 

2  The  following  statement  concerning  the  history  of  this  brigade 
during  the  campaign  of  1804  was  given  me  by  my  friend,  General 
Fayette  Hewett,  now  auditor  of  the  Commonwealth,  who  was  adjutant 
of  the  command:  — 

"On  the  7th  of  May,  1804,  the  Kentucky  Brigade  marched  out  of 
Dalton,  1,140  strong.  The  hospital  reports  show  that,  up  to  Septem- 
ber 1,  1,860  wounds  were  taken  by  the  command.  This  includes  the 
killed;  but  many  were  struck  several  times  in  one  engagement,  in 
which  case  the  wounds  were  counted  as  one.  In  two  battles  over 
fifty-one  per  cent,  of  all  engaged  were  killed  or  wounded.  During 
the  whole  campaign  there  were  not  more  than  ten  desertions.  The 
campaign  ended  with  240  men  able  to  do  duty;  less  than  fifty  were 
without  wounds." 


It  will  be  seen  from  this  record,  that  in  the  long 
fighting  retreat  of  Johnston's  army  this  command  did 
a  work  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  retreats  in  the 
face  of  continued  defeat.  In  one  hundred  days  this 
little  war-worn  band,  all  that  was  left  from  the  wreck 
of  a  score  of  battles,  numbering  at  the  outset  of  the 
retreat  only  1,140  men,  took  1,860  mortal  or  serious 
wounds  ;  in  two  actions  they  lost  over  fifty  per  cent,  of 
all  engaged,  and  at  the  end,  with  but  two  hundred  and 
forty  fit  for  duty,  there  were  but  ten  men  who  could  be 
reckoned  as  deserters.  The  reader  should  remember 
that  this  campaign  came  at  a  time  when  the  hope  of 
the  Confederate  armies  was  well-nigh  gone,  and  that 
they  were  fighting  amid  despair.  The  custom  in  the 
Federal  army  of  making  composite  brigades,  each  con- 
taining regiments  from  several  States,,  makes  it  impos- 
sible to  cite  any  instances  of  endurance  among  these 
troops  that  can  be  compared  with  that  of  the  First 
Confederate  Kentucky  Brigade.  Still,  the  history  of 
individual  regiments  will  show  that  practically  the  same 
qualities  belonged  in  many  of  the  commands.  It  could 
be  made  clear,  if  space  allowed  the  showing,  that  the 
best  fighting  material  came  from  the  richest  and  most 
elevated  population  of  the  Commonwealth,  —  those  dis- 
tricts where  education  was  the  most  general,  and  where 
the  commands  contained  a  large  proportion  of  men  who, 
by  family  and  training,  were  the  most  natural  leaders  of 
action. 

The  destruction  of  life  that  took  place  during  the 
war  is  not  easily  traceable.  The  returns  of  the  adju- 
tant-general show  only  the  deaths  reported  to  him. 
They  do  not  include  the  loss  from  death  or  wounds,  the 
hundreds   of  small   fights  between    the    Home  Guards 


378  KENTUCKY. 

and  other  irregular  troops,  and  the  raiding  parties  of  the 
enen  I     is   likely  that  the   deaths  by  wounds  in  the 

two   Kentucky  armies   amouuted  to  at  lea^-t  ten  thou- 
sand, and.  as  in  all  modern  warfare,  the  loss  on  the  bat- 
tle-held was  small  compared  with  that  which  came  from 
This  loss  by  •  :  ticularly  heavy  in 

the  Kentucky  troops,  for  the  reason  that  the  medical 
inspection  of  the  troops  was  very  slight;  a  vast  number 
of  boys  and  old  men  were  taken  into  service,  and  among 
these  the  death  rate  is  always  large.     In  the  ceni- 

:idersonville  alone  there  are  the  bodies  of  four  hun- 
dred and  ninety  -  two   Federal  soldiers  from  Kentucky 

:   counting  those  who  enlisted  in  the  I 
meuts  of  other  States.     It  is  probable  that  in  the  two 
armies  the  State  lost  not  less  than  twenty  thousand  by 
unreported  difi  added  a  vast  army 

of  men  who.  though  living,  stood  beside  their  gra 
shorn  01  their  limbs,  ahMicted  with  internal  disease  bred 
by  camp  and  march,  or  prematurely  aged  hy  the  swift 
expenditure  of  force  that  such  war  demands.  We  will 
not  be  amiss  in  estimating  that  one  half  the  manhood 
of  the  generation  that  had  its  centre  of  lite  in  the  sixth 
decade  of  this  century  was  swept  away  or  rendered  un- 
seeable to  the  Commonwealth  by  the  events  of  the 
war.    A  large  part  of  the  loss  of  life  took  place  in  small 

that  have  no  place  in  our  bisb  i  u  3.     From 
a  manuscript  summary  of  the  1.  the  war.  from 

the  pen  of  my  friend  Captain  L.  R.  Hawthorne,  it  ap- 
pears that  there  were  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  com- 
bats within  the  borders  of  tfa 

The  loss  of  property  was  proportionately 
the  loss  of  life.     In    1  :  .ie  the  inflation  of  the 

currency,  the   auditor's  report  showed  a  falling  off  of 


Tin 

Juc 
at    I:  I 

of  tl  which,  i 

at  over  a  hundred  mil 

...  though  d 
in  a  curn 
per  « •  nt»,  had 
carried   on   in  Kentuck; 
gularly  decern 

N 

burned  ;  cattl<  k  had  di 

compensation :  lick 

that  bad  to  b 

■ 
mo:. 

. 

part  .  by 

• 

of  the  South, 

from  the 

S 

■  ■ 
bining  all  the 

and  ruin  in  the  i 

• 


380  KENTUCKY. 

There  was  a  pause  of  exhaustion  after  this  time  of 
trial  that  lasted  for  years,  but  it  was  not  deep  or  long 
compared  with  the  periods  of  inaction  that  in  other 
countries  have  followed  destructive  civil  wars.  Still, 
when  the  reader  asks  why  Kentucky  and  the  other 
Southern  States  have  remained  so  relatively  inactive 
for  the  twenty  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the  sur- 
render of  the  Confederate  armies,  he  may  find  his  an- 
swer in  the  physical  trials,  the  destruction  of  life,  en- 
ergy, and  property,  that  the  catastrophe  of  the  Civil 
War  brought  upon  the  States  that  bore  the  real  burden 
of  the  disaster ;  not  the  burden  of  taxation  and  of  death 
alone,  but  added  to  these  all  the  burdens  of  actual  war. 

The  political  history  of  Kentucky,  which  has  been 
treated  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the  Civil  War, 
is  evidently  the  most  curious  chapter.  The  other  really 
Southern  States,  with  the  exception  of  Missouri,  show 
in  their  speedy  secession  the  influence  of  the  mob  spirit 
which  at  once  separates  a  community  from  the  tradi- 
tions of  order  upon  which  the  development  of  a  society 
depends.  The  most  important  point  in  the  history  of 
Kentucky  is  the  fact  that  she  alone  escaped  the  con- 
tagion of  excitement  that  swept  her  sister  States  into  a 
hasty  rebellion.  The  reasons  for  this  happy  deliverance 
are,  as  we  have  found,  hard  to  describe.  They  may, 
however,  be  summed  up  in  the  following  propositions. 

First,  the  Kentucky  population  had  been  brought 
into  a  spirit  of  conservatism  by  their  unhappy  expe- 
i-ience  with  the  results  of  rash  political  action.  The 
episode  of  the  old  and  new  courts,  and  the  financial  dif- 
ficulties out  of  which  that  trouble  grew,  was  a  very  val- 
uable education  of  the  public  mind.  It  was  the  good 
fortune  of  Kentucky  to  be  led  out  of  this  wilderness  of 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.     381 

evil  politics  by  men  of  strong  conservative  instincts, 
who  had  the  power  of  imparting  their  motives  to  a  very 
sympathetic  people  ;  chief  among  these  conservators  was 
Henry  Clay. 

The  influence  of  this  interesting  man  in  national  poli- 
tics has  turned  out  to  be  smaller  than  it  seemed  at  the 
time  of  his  death  to  be,  but  his  generous,  though  com- 
promising, spirit  had  a  singularly  wholesome  effect 
upon  a  people  overmuch  inclined  to  rash  political  ac- 
tion. If  we  could  accurately  determine  the  origin  of 
the  singular  cleliberativeness  that  marked  the  Ken- 
tucky people  during  the  Civil  War,  we  should  doubtless 
find  that  Clay's  influence  was  of  great  moment  in  the 
determination  of  their  attitude. 

Next  we  should  note  the  fact  that  Kentucky  at  this 
time  was  singularly  rich  in  men  of  decided  political 
capacity,  and  of  fair  training,  if  not  in  the  science,  at 
least  in  the  art,  of  politics.  The  curious  independence 
of  the  early  stations  and  settlements  led  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  political  habit  in  many  hundreds  of  fami- 
lies. While  in  the  more  Southern  States  the  tendency 
of  the  life  was  to  give  the  leadership  into  the  hands 
of  a  few  dominant  families,  in  Kentucky  the  influences 
combined  widely  to  diffuse  the  qualities  of  leadership. 
When  many  of  the  most  distinguished  families  in  Ken- 
tucky pronounced  for  secession,  there  still  remained  an 
ample  supply  of  natural  leaders  to  take  charge  of  the 
resistance  to  that  project  which  actuated  the  masses  of 
the  people. 

In  this  problem  of  18  GO,  as  in  all  other  forms  of  polit- 
ical action,  there  was  the  utmost  diversity  of  opinion. 
It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  each  thinking  man 
was  in  his  thoughts  a  party  by  himself,  and  only  in  his 


382  KENTUCK  Y. 

actions  a  member  of  one  of  the  two  great  political  divis- 
ions that  mark  American  politics. 

This  singular  diversity  of  judgment  was  of  much 
profit  in  the  great  trial,  for  it  served  to  make  a  stam- 
pede into  secession  impossible.  The  secession  party 
beat  itself  to  pieces  against  this  mass  of  diversified  opin- 
ion ;  its  small,  but  singularly  compact  and  able  force, 
that  in  other  States  drove  the  passive  body  of  the  peo- 
ple before  it,  made  no  real  impression  on  the  critical 
and  contentious  army  of  independent  minded  men  who 
could  neither  be  frightened  into  obedience,  nor  excited 
to  premature  violence.  The  first  Confederate  assault 
upon  the  State  constitution  was  fairly  broken  by  the 
steadfast  disputation  that  it  encountered.  Against  that 
babel  of  tongues  its  vigorous  onset  went  to  pieces. 

The  project  of  neutrality  also  grew  out  of  this  ex- 
ceeding diversity  of  opinion.  It  is  likely  that  when 
neutrality  was  determined  on  not  more  than  one  tenth 
of  the  white  people  could  have  been  classed  as  seces- 
sionists, probably  not  more  than  that  number  as  unqual- 
ified Union  men,  —  that  is,  men  who  were  willing  to 
take  the  ground  the  Union  men  occupied  after  the  eman- 
cipation proclamation.  By  far  the  larger  part  of  the 
population  were  of  a  mind  to  do  their  duty  by  the  Union 
as  long  as  the  constitution  was  respected.  There  was 
ever  a  strong  love  of  the  Federal  government,  but  it 
was  not  the  blind  devotion  of  the  followers  of  the  Stu- 
arts for  their  king,  but  a  sober  affection  for  the  magnifi- 
cent ideal  of  the  American  Union.  The  strongest  sense 
of  instinctive  loyalty  which  existed  in  this  eminently 
practical  people  was  given  to  the  State,  where  it  histor- 
ically and  naturally  belonged. 

The  intensity  of  the  loyalty  to  the  State  differs  very 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.    383 

much  in  the  various  American  Commonwealths.  In 
some  of  these  communities  where  there  has  been  little 
local  history,  the  national  idea  is  predominant.  In 
others,  where  the  population  is  coherent  and  homoge- 
neous, and  circumstances  have  given  a  huge  sphere  of 
action  to  the  State,  the  sense  of  devotion  to  the  Common- 
wealth is  very  strong.  This  was  the  case  in  Kentucky, 
as  is  shown  by  the  previous  brief  account.  This  State 
had  worked  out  its  history  in  a  singularly  separate  and 
independent  way.  The  fathers  and  grandfathers  of  the 
generation  that  was  active  in  1860  had  built  the  struct- 
ure of  the  Commonwealth  through  great  trials,  and  with 
deeds  of  which  their  descendants  were  justly  and  hon- 
orably proud.  In  the  prospective  wreck  of  the  Federal 
Union,  which  rilled  the  people  with  the  deepest  regret, 
their  first  and  proper  care  was  to  save  their  own  com- 
munity from  overwhelming  calamity.  Out  of  this  feel- 
ing came  the  neutrality  project.  It  gave  a  period  for 
observation  during  the  swiftly  developing,  but  at  first 
obscure,  motives  of  the  more  Southern  States. 

As  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  there  was  cohe- 
sion enough  in  the  Northern  States  of  the  broken  Union 
to  give  a  chance  of  holding  the  frame-work  of  the  nation 
together,  so  that  its  total  wreck  could  be  avoided,  the 
Kentucky  people  steadily  inclined  more  and  more  away 
from  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy.  The  very  unanimity 
and  want  of  deliberation  of  the  action  of  the  seceding 
Southern  States  destroyed  day  by  day  the  sympathy 
born  of  the  kinship  of  the  people.  When  the  provoca- 
tion to  resistance  was  given  by  Polk's  action  in  seizing 
Columbus  and  Zollicoffer's  invasion,  it  was  welcomed  as 
a  reason  for  casting  their  lot  with  the  Northern  States. 

As  soon  as  this  momentous  step  was  taken,  the  people 


384  KENTUCKY. 

of  Kentucky  were  as  a  whole  as  decided  as  they  here- 
tofore had  been  considerate.  The  speed  with  which  they 
filled  their  quota  of  troops,  and  the  rapidity  with  which 
they  provided  money  for  the  Federal  needs,  despite  the 
fact  that  their  State  was  the  seat  of  war  and  had  sent 
an  army  of  over  forty  thousand  men  to  the  Confederacy, 
is  remarkable.  No  other  State  in  the  Union  gave  pro- 
portionately so  much  or  so  freely  to  the  contribution  of 
men  and  money  to  the  cause  of  the  Union.  Besides 
this  inestimable  contribution  to  the  needs  of  the  Union, 
the  State  had  at  all  times  a  local  force  that  was  pro- 
vided for  domestic  needs.  The  total  contribution  of 
Kentucky  to  the  Federal  army  amounted  to  over  eighty- 
six  thousand  men,  exclusive  of  eleven  thousand  negroes 
enlisted  into  the  United  States  army  within  the  State. 

The  State  Guard  and  Home  Guard  forces  not  counted 
in  this  estimate  amounted  in  the  average  to  not  less  than 
ten  thousand  men.  Adding  to  it  the  men  in  the  Con- 
federate army,  the  whole  contribution  to  the  conflict 
amounted  to  a  levy  en  masse  on  the  population,  and 
gives  the  State  a  just  claim  to  having  furnished  to  the 
Civil  War  more  men,  in  proportion  to  its  population 
and  the  duration  of  the  struggle,  than  were  ever  fur- 
nished by  any  Commonwealth  in  any  modern  war. 

No  sooner  had  the  war  fairly  begun  than  the  people 
became  aware  that  there  were  grave  dangers  menacing 
their  civil  law  from  the  rash  and  tyrannical  conduct  of 
the  military  commanders  of  the  Federal  army.  With- 
out abating  the  energy  of  their  efforts  to  second  the 
military  work  of  the  Federal  government,  they,  with 
equal  determination  and  judgment,  fought  against  this 
evil.  They  made  little  evident  headway  in  this  battle, 
—  they  were  stemming  an  overwhelming  flood  of  govern- 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.    385 

mental  ills,  —  but  they  had  the  profit  of  their  opposi- 
tion in  the  conscientious  and  determined  protest  against 
the  iniquitous  system  that  strove  to  govern  them  by 
military  juntas.  They  at  least  preserved  their  rever- 
ence for  the  system  of  civil  government,  and  when  the 
war  ended  they  had  the  social  order  for  which  they 
struggled  essentially  unimpaired  by  the  nefarious  acts 
of  those  who  should  have  been  their  friends. 

The  result  of  this  strenuous  though  orderly  struggle 
with  the  excesses  of  the  military  spirit  and  the  wild 
legislation  of  the  Republican  Congress  was  to  drive  the 
State  into  intense  political  antagonism  to  the  party  that 
had  the  control  of  the  government.  This  has  unjustly 
been  assumed  to  prove  the  essential  sympathy  of  the 
Kentucky  jieople  with  the  Southern  cause.  No  one  who 
is  at  all  conversant  with  the  inner  history  of  Kentucky 
can  fail  to  see  the  error  of  this  idea.  The  best  sol- 
diers of  the  Federal  party,  those  who  struck  the  hard- 
est blows  at  the  Confederacy,  were  the  leaders  in  the 
antagonism  to  the  militarism  that  was  forced  upon  them. 
General  Bramlette,  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  effective 
of  the  original  Union  men,  was  a  radical  Republican 
in  his  humor  when  he  came  to  the  governorship,  yet 
we  find  him  driven  into  the  fiercest  antagonism  against 
these  methods.  Colonels  Jacob  and  Wolford,  and  a 
host  of  other  good  soldiers,  were  ready  to  do  battle  with 
one  hand  against  the  rebellion,  and  with  the  other  to 
combat  for  the  life  of  the  civil  law.  While  the  Re- 
publican party  in  Congress  was  led  by  men  who  knew 
nothing  of  war,  and  was  mostly  supported  by  those  to 
whom  the  war  brought  no  immediate  ills,  this  people, 
with  the  battle  about  their  firesides,  had  a  double  com- 
25 


385  KENTUCKY. 

bat  to  wage.  That  they  did  not  falter  in  either  duty 
is  much  to  their  credit. 

When  the  war  ended,  the  parties  in  Kentucky  were 
reorganized  on  new  lines.  The  conduct  of  the  Repub- 
licans in  regard  to  the  civil  rights  of  the  State  during 
the  active  period  of  the  struggle,  the  disgust  arising 
from  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  without  compensa- 
tion to  loyal  owners,  the  acts  of  the  Freedman's  Bureau, 
and  other  proceedings  hostile  to  the  governmental  in- 
tegrity of  the  State,  arrayed  an  overwhelming  majority 
of  the  people  on  the  Democratic,  which  was  then  the 
Conservative,  side. 

Perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  feature  in  the  close  of 
the  Civil  War  was  the  really  quick  restoration  of  the 
civil  order  in  the  State  and  the  perfect  reunion  of  the 
divided  jieople.  The  prompt  and  complete  abrogation 
of  the  severe  penalties  laid  upon  the  Confederate  sol- 
diers and  sympathizers  greatly  contributed  to  this  speedy 
return  to  the  conditions  of  peace.  In  this  course  the 
people  of  Kentucky  set  an  excellent  but  unheeded  ex- 
ample to  the  Federal  government.  By  this  action  they 
avoided  all  risks  of  having  a  large  part  of  their  citizens 
parted  in  spirit  from  the  life  and  work  of  the  Common- 
wealth. This  reconciliation  was  helped  by  the  fact  that 
both  Federals  and  Confederates  had  played  a  manly 
part  in  the  struggle.  Not  only  had  the  soldiers  in  both 
parties  shown  themselves  to  be  brave  and  manly  men  in 
the  field,  but  the  Kentucky  troops  on  both  sides  had 
done  all  in  their  power  to  make  war  decent  and  hon- 
orable, and  to  lighten  its  burdens  on  non-combatants. 
They  could  wear  their  laurels  and  live  their  lives  to- 
gether without  shame. 

What  was  left  of  the  forty  thousand  who  went  away 


THE  STRUGGLE   FOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.     387 

into  the  Southern  service  came  back  to  their  place  in  the 
State  sadder  and  wiser  men.  yet  the  better  citizens  for 
their  dearly  bought  experience.  We  search  in  vain  for 
any  evidence  of  hatred  or  even  dislike  among  these  men 
who  were  so  lately  in  arms  against  each  other.  In  all 
the  walks  of  life,  in  the  courts  and  in  the  legislature, 
as  well  as  in  the  relations  of  kindred,  we  find  these  old 
enemies  going  together  to  their  work  of  repairing  the 
ruin  that  war  had  brought  on  the  State.  Fighting  at 
times  their  battles  over  again  in  good-natured  talk,  but 
each  dearer  to  the  other  for  the  fearful  parting  of  the 
war. 

The  historian  will  always  admire  this  episode  of  rec- 
onciliation. Something  of  it  is  now  seen  in  the  wiping 
out  of  enmity  that  came  to  the  whole  country  after  the 
deplorable  reconstruction  troubles  of  the  South.  In 
Kentucky,  however,  it  came  at  once  ;  there  was  no  period 
of  doubt,  no  hesitation  in  the  return  of  peace.  The 
spring  of  1865  did  not  quicken  the  seed  in  the  fields 
more  speedily  than  it  did  the  affection  of  these  once 
parted  children  of  Kentucky. 

The  financial  management  of  the  Commonwealth  dur- 
ing the  war  next  demands  consideration.  We  have 
given  this  part  of  the  history  of  Kentucky  some  atten- 
tion up  to  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion. 
We  have  seen  that  the  conservative  education  of  the 
people  had  been  in  good  part  due  to  their  early  expe- 
riences in  matters  of  finance,  and  that  this  training  had 
led  them  to  a  singularly  careful  course  in  the  matter  of 
financial  legislation  and  State  expenditure.  At  the  out- 
set of  the  war  the  State  owed  $4,729,234.03  ;  of  this 
$1,381,832.03  was  the  "school  bond,"  a  debt  only  in 
name.     In  1884  the  nominal  debt  is  $1,879,110.19,  of 


388  KENTUCKY. 

which  $1,698,716.19  is  the  "school  bond,"  or  the  sum 
on  which  the  State  agrees  to  pay  interest  to  the  com- 
mon schools. 

At  various  times  during  the  war  the  Commonwealth 
was  forced  to  borrow  large  sums  of  money  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  placing  the  Federal  troops  in  the  field 
and  maintaining  her  local  forces  ;  in  this  work  she  ad- 
vanced to  the  Federal  government  over  three  million 
eight  hundred  thousand  dollars.  During  and  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  there  was  received  from  the  sale  of  the 
State's  share  in  the  assets  of  certain  banks  that  closed 
their  business,  a  large  sum  of  specie,  which  was  promptly 
sold  at  high  prices  and  applied  to  the  liquidation  of  her 
debt.  The  Federal  government  slowly  repaid  the  three 
millions  which  had  been  advanced  by  Kentucky  for  war 
purposes.  Thus,  though  the  debt  increased  rapidly  dur- 
ing the  war,  so  carefully  was  it  provided  for  by  sinking 
funds  and  a  strict  economy  in  public  expenditures,  that 
in  1873  the  State  was  in  effect  entirely  out  of  debt. 
The  only  qualifications  of  this  statement  are  as  follows : 
The  constitution  provides  that  the  State  permanently 
owes  to  the  school  fund  a  debt  of  about  two  million  of 
dollars  in  one  bond.  This  was  an  ingenious  way  of 
securing  the  receipt  of  a  school  revenue  from  any  chance 
of  reckless  legislation,  and  is  not  properly  to  be  regarded 
as  a  debt.  Besides  this  the  Commonwealth  owed,  and 
in  part  still  owes,  the  sum  of  $331,000  for  bonds  not 
due  or  payable.  In  order  to  have  the  sense  of  freedom 
from  debt  clear  to  the  bucolic  mind  of  Kentucky,  a  de- 
posit of  $350,000  in  United  States  bonds  was  made  in 
the  New  York  bank  where  the  State  bonds  were  paya- 
ble. This  extraordinary  precaution  to  clear  away  even 
the  shadow  of  obligation  to  creditors  is  a  singular  proof 


TEE  STRUGGLE  FOR  CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.    389 

of  the  financial  conscience  of  this  people,  as  well  as  of 
their  rather  original  methods  in  finance. 

At  no  time  during  the  Civil  War,  nor  at  any  other 
time,  have  the  bonds  of  Kentucky  been  defaulted  in  in- 
terest or  in  principal.  At  no  time  during  the  war  was 
the  State  sorely  pressed  for  money;  the  State  banks  and 
the  citizens,  principally  the  former,  readily  took  the  loans 
which  were  issued  by  the  Commonwealth  at  their  face 
value,  trusting  for  their  repayment  to  the  sagacity  and 
honesty  with  which  her  State  treasury  had  always  been 
managed,  and  apparently  with  no  fear  that  the  Stato 
itself  would  be  imperiled  by  the  struggle.  Even  when 
the  government  of  the  State  was  driven  from  the  capital 
the  people  never  for  a  moment  lost  their  confidence  in 
its  promises  to  pay.  This  absolute  trust  of  the  people 
in  their  Commonwealth,  even  in  the  midst  of  war,  is  by 
no  means  the  least  important  feature  in  the  history  of 
the  time.  It  is  in  striking  contrast  with  the  lack  of 
confidence  in  the  ultimate  Federal  success,  shown  by  the 
people  of  this  country  in  their  unwillingness  to  take 
the  United  States  loans  except  at  an  extreme  deprecia- 
tion of  their  face  value. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  this  low  price  of  the  United 
States  bonds  is  a  clear  evidence  of  the  general  doubt  in 
the  eventual  result  of  the  war  ;  it  shows  that  the  judg- 
ment that  the  Union  had  gone  to  pieces,  which  was  the 
basis  of  the  Kentucky  effort  for  neutrality,  was  the 
opinion  of  the  business  world,  that  best  of  all  judges 
in  such  matters,  as  well  as  of  the  Union  men  of  this 
country. 

The  business  condition  of  Kentucky  during  the  Civil 
War  was  better  than  it  would  have  been  if  the  State 
had  been  the  seat  of  large   manufacturing  industries. 


390  KENTUCKY. 

No  country  can  withstand  the  shock  of  war  so  well  as 
those  that  rely  mainly  on  the  soil  for  their  support.  A 
little  tilling  will  give  bread,  and  if  left  fallow  the  soil 
often  has  a  profit  from  it. 

This  was  the  strength  of  the  whole  South.  The 
negroes  were  generally  indisposed  to  change  their  hab- 
its of  labor,  and  they,  with  the  old  men  and  women, 
were  sufficient  to  keep  up  the  little  tillage  of  the  fertile 
soil  necessary  for  food  supply.  With  an  average  of 
fifty  thousand  men  in  the  Federal  service  under  pay, 
there  was  enough  money  to  replace  deficiencies  arising 
from  the  neglect  of  the  larger  part  of  the  fields.  The 
result  was  that  all  suffering  from  famine,  all  impairment 
of  the  native  strength  of  the  people  arising  from  de- 
ficient food,  were  avoided. 

Great  as  was  the  destruction  of  the  material  basis  of 
civilization,  immeasurable  as  was  the  loss  from  the  bat- 
tle-fields and  hospitals,  the  war  left  untouched  the  foun- 
dations of  the  State,  its  vigor  of  blood  and  its  fertility 
of  soil.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  Commonwealth  ever  es- 
caped from  such  perils  with  so  little  in  the  way  of  vital, 
irremediable  injury. 

This  glance  at  the  history  of  Kentucky  during  the 
Civil  War  may  lead  us  to  a  better  understanding  of  the 
strength  that  inheres  in  the  American  State,  when  it 
has  learned  to  live  its  individual  life  and  to  trust  in  its 
native  institutions.  In  a  period  of  national  disaster, 
when  the  organization  of  the  Federal  government  was 
for  a  while  shaken  to  pieces,  this  unit  of  that  structure 
holding  firmly  to  its  local  government,  even  more  firmly 
for  the  sense  that  the  higher  state  had  fallen  to  pieces, 
formed  a  bulwark  to  the  cause  of  good  government. 
But  for  the  sense  of  devotion  to  the  State  constitu- 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.     391 

tion  and  government  that  belonged  in  this  people,  the 
pro-slavery  excitement  would  doubtless  have  enabled 
the  secession  element  to  sweep  it  into  association  with 
the  seceding  section.  Undoubtedly  the  sense  of  States 
rights  somewhat  facilitated  the  action  of  the  secession 
party  in  the  Southern  Commonwealths,  and  made  it 
possible  for  them  to  be  forced  on  the  wave  of  the 
slavery  agitation  out  of  their  allegiance  to  the  Union. 
But  its  influence  in  this  work  has  been  exaggerated. 
In  that  contest  the  real  battle  was  between  antago- 
nistic civilizations.  States  rights  was  only  the  nominal 
ground  of  the  struggle,  though  to  many  it  seemed  the 
real  ground. 

Kentucky  was  the  only  Southern  State  where  the 
principles  of  States  rights  found  a  due  expression  in 
this  political  excitement.  She  alone  resolved  to  debate 
the  question  as  a  State,  and  to  keep  her  action  within 
the  limits  of  her  constitutional  provisions.  It  was  this 
sense  of  duty,  by  their  own  State  laws,  that  gave  time 
for  the  deliberate  thought  that  ended  in  keeping  the 
Commonwealth  out  of  the  rebellion.  But  for  this  sense 
of  duty  of  the  people  of  Kentucky  by  their  Common- 
wealth, it  seems  pretty  certain  that  the  war  would  have 
come  upon  the  North  with  much  more  difficult  condi- 
tions, and  the  issue  might  have  been  very  different  from 
its  happy  end.  With  the  Confederate  battle  line  on  the 
Ohio,  and  a  hundred  thousand  more  men  behind  it,  who 
can  say  that  the  North  would  have  won  ? 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   NEW   COMMONWEALTH. 

We  have  in  the  preceding  chapters  disposed  of  all 
the  trains  of  action  that  have  worked  out  their  prin- 
cipal effects  in  Kentucky  ;  we  must  now  pass  from  the 
historical  to  the  present  life  of  the  Commonwealth. 
On  this  subject  it  will  not  be  possible  to  say  much 
without  going  beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  this  sketch 
of  the  State's  history.  But  as  the  existing  life  is  the 
child  of  that  which  is  historical,  we  must  not  leave  it 
untouched. 

After  the  period  of  the  Civil  War  there  came  a  time 
of  stagnation  which  is  hardly  yet  passed  away.  Thus 
while  the  Northern  States  were  moving  forward  on  the 
way  of  wealth,  profiting  by  the  expansion  that  the  war 
had  given  to  their  trade,  while  they  were  secured  from 
the  material  losses  of  actual  war,  this  Commonwealth 
has  been  relatively  dormant,  resting  from  the  exhaus- 
tion of  the  great  struggle,  separating  itself  from  the 
wreck  of  the  olden  time,  and  trying  to  find  the  clews  to 
the  new  life  before  it.  It  was  to  shake  off  the  theories 
of  life  proper  to  the  seventeenth  century  and  take  on 
the  ideas  of  the  nineteenth. 

Despite  this  natural  torpor,  after  four  years  of  tre- 
mendous struggle  that  used  up  the  material  and  vital 
resources  of  a  generation,  there  has  been  a  good  share 
of  recuperative  activity  exhibited  by  the  Commonwealth. 


TEE  NEW  COMMONWEALTH.  893 

In  1873  the  State  set  about  the  task  of  studying  its  re- 
sources by  reconstituting  its  geological  survey.  An  in- 
quiry into  its  mineral  wealth  was  begun  in  1854  and 
continued  until  1860,  when  the  premonitions  of  war 
caused  the  State  to  set  about  the  most  rigid  economy, 
and  to  discontinue  all  enterprises  except  those  that  had 
reference  to  immediate  needs.  This  new  survey  has 
been  maintained  for  twelve  years  at  a  very  considerable 
cost.  In  the  same  period  no  other  State  except  Penn- 
sylvania, which  has  many  times  the  wealth  of  Ken- 
tucky, has  expended  so  much  in  this  class  of  inquiries. 
Not  only  has  the  work  been  directed  to  the  economic 
inquiries  into  the  resources  of  the  State,  but  the  legis- 
lature has  willingly  approved  a  large  amount  of  purely 
scientific  work,  which  has  no  other  end  than  the  exten- 
sion of  those  branches  of  learning  which  have  an  intel- 
lectual profit  alone.  Since  the  war,  over  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  has  been  spent  in  this  important  work 
of  studying  the  nature  and  resources  of  the  Common- 
wealth. 

The  question  of  immigration  has  received  a  very  care- 
ful consideration  both  from  the  people  at  large  and 
from  their  representatives.  The  quickest  form  of  profit 
attainable  by  a  State  is  gained  by  the  immigration  of 
well-trained  and  laborious  people  from  other  lands. 
Each  adult  man  is,  on  the  average,  worth  to  society 
not  less  than  three  thousand  dollars,  and  a  part  of  his 
value  goes  at  once  into  the  property  of  every  laud- 
owner  in  the  place  where  he  settles. 

For  a  generation  this  tide  of  foreign  life,  frightened 
from  those  inviting  fields  by  slavery,  has  drifted  by  the 
northern  border  of  Kentucky,  going  to  the  west  and 
north  to  fertilize   and  enrich  the  States  of  the  North- 


394  KENTUCKY. 

west.  Many  Kentuckians  have  earnestly  desired  to 
take  the  means  of  soliciting  this  immigration  to  the 
State ;  still,  the  majority  has  always  been  against  any 
effort  in  the  way  of  direct  persuasion  to  induce  the  set- 
tlement of  these  people  within  the  Commonwealth. 
Within  the  last  five  years  the  legislature  has  instituted 
a  bureau  of  immigration,  charged  with  the  work  of  dis- 
seminating intelligence  concerning  the  resources  of  the 
Commonwealth.  It  has  refused  to  use  a  system  of 
agents  to  solicit  the  coming  of  immigrants,  in  the  way 
that  a  number  of  the  newer  States  of  the  Northwest 
have  done ;  some  results  are  now  coming  from  this  ac- 
tion. A  good  many  colonies  of  English  and  German 
and  Swiss  people  have  been  founded  in  the  State 
within  the  last  five  years,  and  their  uniform  prosperity 
has  shown  that  the  State  affords  very  large  opportuni- 
ties for  agricultural  immigrants. 

There  is  much  to  say  for  this  qualified  attitude  of 
Kentucky  towards  immigrants.  There  is  something 
undignified  in  the  battle  for  the  newly-landed  immi- 
grants at  Castle  Garden,  and  the  solicitation  of  immi- 
grants in  Europe  which  is  carried  on  by  some  of  the 
Northwestern  States.  There  is  much  that  is  perilous 
to  a  new  American  State  in  the  accumulation  of  such 
aliens  within  its  bounds.  Kentucky  has  had  the  good 
fortune  to  inherit  a  nearly  pure  English  blood.  Aside 
from  the  diminishing  negro  population,  the  blood  of  the 
people  is  of  a  singularly  unmixed  origin.  Her  success 
in  meeting  the  strains  of  the  Civil  War  could  not  have 
been  secured  if  its  people  had  not  had  this  singular 
unity  of  race  and  the  solidarity  of  motive  that  it  brought 
with  it.  While  there  are  doubtless  evils  that  come  from 
this  predominance  of  English  stock  and  the  consequent 


THE  NEW  COMMONWEALTH.  395 

uniformity  of  the  motive  of  the  people,  leading  as  it 
does  to  a  certain  acceptance  of  existing  conditions,  there 
are  other  dangers,  and  graver,  which  come  from  the 
confusion  of  motives  in  the  States  that  have  a  large 
foreign  population,  that  are  much  more  menacing  to 
society. 

While  Kentucky  is  lagging  behind  in  mere  physical 
growth  as  compared  with  the  other  States,  there  is  a 
rationality  in  the  motive  that  leads  to  this  slow  going. 
It  may  fairly  be  asked  that  the  verdict  as  to  the  policy 
of  attracting  immigrants  by  excessive  inducements  be 
deferred  until  the  results  of  the  experiment  have  been 
obtained,  until  the  time  comes  for  comparing  the  con- 
ditions of  such  a  Commonwealth  with  the  mixed  blood 
of  other  States.  Besides  the  want  of  immigration  that 
arises  from  the  unwillingness  to  seek  their  contribution 
of  new  blood  by  solicitation,  there  are  other  barriers 
that  have  hindered  the  coming  of  immigrants  into  Ken- 
tucky. The  European  immigrant  is  generally  unwilling 
to  enter  into  competition  with  negro  labor ;  although 
Kentucky  has  but  a  small  and  diminishing  proportion 
of  black  people,  although  there  are  large  parts  of  the 
State  entirely  without  negroes,  the  name  of  a  slave 
State  clings  like  a  cloud  over  her  reputation,  aud  leads 
many  people  to  go  to  other  more  distant  and  less  fer- 
tile lands  for  their  homes.  There  is,  moreover,  a  prac- 
tical obstacle  arising  from  the  difficulty  with  the  land 
titles  in  Kentucky.  The  peculiarities  of  the  patent  sys- 
tem have  already  been  noted,  and  the  fact  set  forth 
that  while  this  system  was  of  great  value  to  the  State 
in  the  process  of  its  settlement,  it  left  the  land  titles 
of  the  less  occupied  districts  in  a  very  uncertain  state. 
In  the  most  populous  parts  of  the  Commonwealth,  time 


396  KENTUCKY. 

and  the  courts  have  settled  the  questions  of  boundaries 
and  ownerships ;  but  in  the  eastern  part,  and  generally 
in  the  regions  where  the  lands  are  low  priced  enough  to 
encourage  immigration,  there  is  often  a  cloud  of  doubt 
over  the  land  titles  that  is  vexatious  to  the  stranger. 

All  these  influences  have  acted  to  retard  the  accumu- 
lation of  population  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  to  leave  its  people  to  a  greater  extent 
unmixed  with  new  European  blood  than  in  any  North- 
ern State.  These  hindrances  are  rapidly  disappearing. 
The  negroes  are  leaving  the  fields  and  gathering  into 
the  towns.  The  process  of  litigation  is  rapidly  making 
an  end  of  the  difficulties  concerning  land  titles,  so  that 
in  a  very  few  years  these  obstacles  will  pass  away. 

The  census  statistics  given  in  the  Appendix  will  show 
the  fact  that  there  was  decided  evidence  of  the  recuper- 
ation from  the  effects  of  the  war  at  the  time  when  the 
census  statistics  of  1880  were  gathered.  In  all  the  im- 
portant arts  there  was  a  gain ;  and  we  may  accept  it  as 
proven  that  all  the  material  losses  of  the  war  had  then 
been  more  than  made  good.  The  greatest  and  most  re- 
grettable retardation  in  the  advance  of  the  State  has 
been  in  the  system  of  education. 

The  public  school  system  of  Kentucky  has  never 
been  in  a  satisfactory  condition  compared  with  the 
Northern  communities,  though,  measured  against  the 
other  Southern  States,  the  showing  is  very  good.  The 
trouble  has  been  that  the  scattered  position  of  the  pop- 
ulation has  made  the  gathering  of  the  children  for 
school  purposes  a  very  difficult  matter ;  and  next,  that 
the  standard  of  education  has  been  low,  an  evil  that 
Kentucky  has  shared  along  with  the  rest  of  the  South- 
ern States.     New  England  started   with  a  highly  edu- 


THE  NEW  COMMONWEALTH.  397 

cated  clergy  and  bar,  and  their  educated  character  has 
been  maintained  with  occasional  exceptions ;  the  clergy 
and  bar  of  Kentucky  have  had  little  more  than  profes- 
sional trainings  ;  they  have  done  their  special  work 
well,  because  of  the  native  force  and  earnestness  of 
their  minds,  but  they  have  not  acted  as  supporters  of 
public  education  among  the  people,  as  the  men  of  their 
class  have  done  in  New  England. 

There  has  always  been  a  good  old  Saxon  sense  of  the 
value  of  education.  The  earlier  acts  of  the  legislature 
abound  in  efforts  to  found  schools  ;  again  and  again,  even 
in  times  of  grave  difficulty,  the  State  has  made  great 
efforts  to  develop  a  good  system  of  education.  The 
constitution  now  in  force  made  a  permanent  provision, 
in  the  form  of  a  bond  from  the  State,  to  pay  a  sum  to 
the  schools,  which  in  its  time  was  the  largest  contribu- 
tion made  by  any  Southern  or  Western  State.  This 
liberal  help  from  the  State,  though  meant  for  a  benefac- 
tion, has  been  on  the  whole  a  curse  to  the  educational 
system  of  the  State ;  it  made  it  possible  to  maintain 
some  semblance  of  a  school  in  every  precinct  of  the 
Commonwealth  for  a  few  months  in  the  year  without 
any  contribution  from  the  local  taxes.  It  taught  the 
people  to  look  to  the  State,  rather  than  to  themselves, 
for  the  maintenance  of  education.  Here,  more  than 
anywhere  else,  we  see  the  vicious  system  of  county 
government  by  which  the  South  is  cursed,  —  an  evil 
that  even  as  much  as  slavery  has  served  to  retard  its 
advancement  in  educational  methods. 

As  is  well  known  the  important  unit  of  government 
in  all  these  States  is  the  county,  always  a  large  area, 
averaging  several  hundred  square  miles  in  surface.  All 
the  political  life  centres  about  the  county  seat  of  this 


398  KENTUCKY. 

county.  Usually  in  Kentucky  this  "  court  house,"  as 
it  is  called,  is  on  the  average  a  dozen  miles  away  from 
the  home  of  the  citizen  ;  except  he  be  a  political  leader 
or  a  man  of  the  law,  he  only  visits  the  county  seat  at 
long  intervals  and  for  matters  of  a  large  political  na- 
ture. He  votes  at  his  precinct,  generally  at  the  school- 
house  in  his  school-district ;  but  this  school-district  is 
practically  an  administrative  district  with  reference  to 
the  school  alone.  Its  concerns  are  absolutely  sepa- 
rated from  the  other  affairs  of  the  Commonwealth.  All 
the  political  activity  gathers  about  the  county  court 
house,  where  school  affairs  have  no  place  in  the  discus- 
sions ;  all  the  matters  that  concern  the  schools  are  at- 
tended to  by  a  small  board  of  elected  trustees. 

In  this  system  of  county  government  there  are  no 
assemblies  in  which  the  people  meet  to  discuss  the  af- 
fairs that  most  concern  their  life.  The  precious  seed  of 
the  Folkmote,  which  was  preserved  in  New  England  in 
the  town  system,  never  existed  in  the  Virginia  system 
of  government.  The  political  life  is  limited  to  the  hear- 
ing of  stump  speeches,  very  interesting  and  profitable 
debates  on  the  questions  of  large  politics,  but  little  help- 
ful in  such  humdrum  matters  as  schools,  roads,  and 
bridges.  The  result  is  that  the  life  of  the  people  went 
out  to  questions  about  the  Resolutions  of  '98,  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise,  and  other  national  matters,  and  there 
has  been  little  care  for  the  equally  precious  local  life. 
The  result  is  that  there  have  always  been  thousands  of 
men  in  Kentucky  hardly  able  to  read  or  write  who 
could  enlighten  a  Yankee  farmer  on  questions  of  na- 
tional politics,  but  who  had  never  given  a  thought  to 
the  district  school.  This  absence  of  a  good  system  of 
local  government  is  the  most  serious  difficulty  in  all  the 


TIIE  NEW  COMMONWEALTH.  899 

States   of  the  American  Union  outside  of  New  Eng- 
land.1 

"While  the  elementary  schools  of  the  State  have  re- 
mained little  cared  for  save  by  the  State  gift,  which  is 
barely  enough  to  keep  them  alive,  there  have  been  nu- 
merous efforts  to  develop  a  higher  education.  Very  early 
in  the  history  of  the  State  provision  was  made  for  the 
foundation  of  certain  academies.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  century  the  impulse  towards  higher  education  led  to 
the  establishment  at  Lexington  of  an  excellent  school 
called  Transylvania  University.  This  college  had  a 
short  but  brilliant  career.  In  its  time  it  had  some  very 
scholarly  men  among  its  teachers,  and  it  trained  a  gen- 
eration of  fair  students.  It  perished,  however,  under 
the  malign  influence  of  sectarian  education.  Each  re- 
ligious sect  strove  to  keep  those  born  into  its  fold  from 
the  risk  of  contamination  by  its  brother  Christians. 
Schools  for  Baptists,  Methodists,  and  Presbyterians 
sprang  up  over  the  State,  each  with  the  name  of  col- 
lege, but  with  generally  little  more  than  the  system  or 
resources  of  good  high  schools.  It  is  the  same  dreary 
history  which  we  read  in  the  other  parts  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  ;  divide  and  be  conquered  by  poverty 
seem  to  have  been  the  issue  of  all  the  efforts  for  a 
higher  education  in  that  region. 

One  of  these  schools,  that  of  the  Presbyterians  at 
Danville,  though  always  poor  in  all  but  the  spirit  of 
scholarship,   has    done   on    the   whole    excellent  work. 

1  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  Xew  England  States  are  the  only 
Commonwealths  that  have  secured  that  principle  of  local  government 
which  is  the  soul  of  the  "  State  rights  "  doctrine.  This  has  been  given 
them  by  their  system  of  division  into  towns.  Despite  their  longing 
for  a  local  system  of  control,  the  Southern  States  have  missed  the  true 
wav  to  it. 


400  KENTUCKY. 

For  more  than  fifty  years  Centre  College  has  shown 
by  its  many  well-trained  graduates  how  well  this  peo- 
ple could  profit  by  an  extended  higher  education.  If 
the  efforts  to  create  a  university  in  Kentucky  had  led 
to  the  enriching  of  this  excellent  school,  the  State 
might  now  have  an  institution  of  higher  learning  wor- 
thy of  its  people. 

It  was  not  until  the  last  year  of  the  Civil  War  that 
any  effort  was  made  to  create  a  school  of  high  grade 
deserving  the  name  of  a  university.  In  1864,  Colonel 
J.  B.  Bowman,  a  public  spirited  citizen,  began  an  effort 
to  bring  together  the  nucleus  of  a  true  university.  The 
newly  given  Agricultural  College  fund,  arising  from  the 
grant  of  government  lands,  the  remnants  of  the  dead 
Transylvania  University,  and  various  other  fragments, 
were  skillfully  patched  together  into  a  school  of  much 
promise.  No  sooner  was  it  well  started  than  in  1875 
a  fierce  religious  war  broke  out  within  its  walls.  At 
the  end  of  five  years  this  most  promising  effort  to  create 
a  university  came  to  an  end,  leaving  the  State  without 
a  single  institution  strong  enough  to  carry  the  burden 
of  the  higher  modern  education.  The  State  Agricul- 
tural and  Mechanical  School  and  the  old  Centre  Col- 
lege are  the  only  institutions  that  have  more  than  the 
semblance  of  life  and  growth. 

The  educational  problem  is  by  far  the  most  serious 
of  all  the  difficulties  before  this  State.  The  neglect  of 
education  has  gone  so  far  that  it  jeopardizes  the  future 
influence  of  the  people  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 
Hitherto  the  natural  talents  of  the  people,  given  them 
by  the  admirable  accidents  of  selection  that  secured  to 
the  Commonwealth  the  most  vigorous  blood  of  America, 
have  served   them  well,  have  enabled  them  to   keep  a 


THE  NEW  COMMONWEALTH.  401 

permanent  place  in  all  the  arts  of  war  or  peace.  As 
long  as  the  native  strength  of  this  people,  unhelped  l>y 
training,  was  matched  against  equally  untrained  people 
from  the  other  Western  States,  there  was  no  State  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley  that  had  anything  like  the  power 
of  giving  able  men  for  all  needs  that  was  manifested 
in  Kentucky.  This  is  seen  in  the  history  of  legisla- 
tion, trade,  and  war  in  the  decades  of  this  century  down 
to  the  end  of  the  rebellion.  In  the  war  Kentucky  pro- 
duced more  good  soldiers  than  any  other  equal  popu- 
lation of  the  West,  and  at  the  present  moment  she  has 
a  large  number  of  her  sons  in  important  public  posi- 
tions ;  but  these  men,  with  rare  exception,  have  owed 
their  promotion  to  the  gifts  of  nature,  unhelped  by 
education.  The  time  when  men  could  win  without  the 
aid  of  training  is  rapidly  passing  away.  It  can  hardly 
be  hoped  that  the  native  talent  of  this  people  will  ena- 
ble them  much  longer  to  keep  the  lead  in  the  race  for 
dominance.  In  another  generation  they  will  certainly 
be  left  behind  by  their  less  well  endowed  but  more 
aptly  trained  competitors,  unless  they  meet  the  needs 
of  education  with  the  same  courage  and  self-sacrifice 
with  which  they  have  faced  the  other  dangers  and  diffi- 
culties of  their  development. 

We  may  accept  the  fact  that  it  will  not  be  possible 
to  create  an  adequate  machinery  like  the  New  Englaud 
town  system,  which  can  take  charge  of  the  schools  and 
support  them  from  local  contributions.  Even  the  ad- 
venturous Jefferson,  who  well  knew  and  much  admired 
the  advantages  of  this  New  England  system,  never  ven- 
tured to  plan  the  introduction  of  this  system  of  town 
government  in  the  South.  Nothing  is  so  difficult  as  to 
alter  the  methods  of  local  government  of  a  country. 

20 


402  KENTUCKY. 

There  is  hardly  a  case  in  history  where  these  govern- 
mental units  of  the  State,  once  firmly  placed,  have  been 
much  changed  by  enactments.  Inasmuch  as  there  is  no 
hope  of  developing  good  schools  by  local  support,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  maintain  the  public  schools  by  the  di- 
rect action  of  the  State.  To  do  this  well  will  require 
at  least  the  doubling  of  the  revenue  available  for  sup- 
porting the  State  school  system  in  its  primary  grades. 

The  condition  of  the  civil  law  in  Kentucky  at  the 
present  time  demands  especial  consideration,  for  the  rea- 
son that  there  is  a  large  amount  of  misconception  con- 
cerning the  matter.  It  is  commonly  supposed  that  this 
is  a  region  where  crimes  meet  with  lax  punishment  and 
where  people  are  much  given  to  uncontrolled  violence. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
ordinary  homicide  in  Kentucky.  This  is  not  a  new 
feature  in  the  life  of  the  State,  or  of  the  race  to  which 
its  people  belong ;  it  dates  as  far  back  as  the  time  of 
settlement.  Men  of  the  type  of  people  who  made  the 
State  in  the  olden  day  were  not  as  a  rule  gentle  nat- 
ured ;  they  had  a  full  share  of  that  brutal  English  stuff 
in  them  which  has  given  their  kindred  the  control  of 
the  world.  This  homicidal  humor  was  no  invention  of 
Kentucky ;  it  was  in  the  fierce  blood  of  their  ancestors. 
The  first  generation  of  Kentuckians  grew  amid  a  war 
with  savages,  a  war  that  knew  no  refinements,  when 
prisoners  were  rarely  taken,  and  when  the  enemy's 
wounded  were  killed  or  left  to  die  uncared  for.  All 
personal  quarrels  were  settled  by  fighting,  —  sometimes 
by  a  rough  and  tumble  contest,  or,  in  more  serious  cases, 
with  a  duel.  Until  within  a  few  years  it  was  common 
at  the  election  places  on  the  polling  days  for  any  one 
to  declare  himself  the  "  best  man  on  the  ground,"  with 


THE  NEW  COMMONWEALTH.  403 

the  offer  to  "  lick  "  any  one  who  denied  it.  Some  one 
was  pretty  sure  to  take  up  the  challenge ;  then  the  an- 
tagonists would  have  a  fight  as  unlimited  in  its  condi- 
tions as  that  between  two  dogs.  Among  the  better 
classes  the  contests  were  always  with  the  form  of  the 
duel.  So  extensive  was  this  practice  that  it  became  a 
very  serious  evil.  As  early  as  1814  all  judicial  officers 
and  attorneys  at  law  were  required  to  take  an  oath  that 
they  had  not  had  anything  to  do  with  a  duel  since  a  cer- 
tain date,  and  that  they  would  not  engage  in  any  during 
their  term  of  office.1 

At  other  and  later  times  various  acts  proscriptive  of 
this  method  of  settling  disputes  were  passed  with  very 
severe  penalties  attached.  Gradually  the  practice  of 
dueling  was  pretty  thoroughly  broken  up,  but  in  its 
place  came  the  greater  evil  of  "  shooting  at  sight." 
Men  who  had  a  serious  dispute  would  send  each  other 
word  that  when  they  met  they  would  have  it  out  with 
their  pistols  or  their  knives.  Although  homicide  of 
this  nature  was  murder  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  the  jury 
that  tried  the  murderer  were  always  inclined  to  regard 
the  offense  as  palliated  by  the  "  notice,"  so  no  one  was 
severely  punished  for  the  crime.  The  laws  against  duel- 
ing were  much  in  advance  of  the  public  sentiment  of 
the  people,  which  has  always  held  to  the  opinion  that 
certain  personal  wrongs  were  to  be  avenged  with  the 
life  of  the  enemy.  So  in  place  of  the  regulated  murder 
of  the  duel  this  legislation  gave  the  public  the  much 
more  savage  and  demoralizing  street  fight. 

This  evil  is  only  to  be  explained  by  the  relative  low 
value  that  this  people  have  hitherto  set  upon  life.*  In 
all  primitive  civilizations  life  is  little  valued.  It  is  only 
l  Collins,  i.  p.  27. 


404  KENTUCKY. 

in  communities  where  the  enforcement  of  the  law  has 
gone  on  uniformly  for  a  long  time  that  men  learn  to 
give  life  a  supreme  place  among  the  goods  of  the  world. 
The  combatant  habit  of  old  times  has  been  kept  in  ex- 
istence in  Kentucky,  while  all  the  other  circumstances 
of  civilization  have  grown  as  they  have  done  in  the  rest 
of  the  world.  There  are  many  signs  that  this  disgrace- 
ful survival  of  an  ancient  bloodthirstiness  is  diminish- 
ing, and  is  soon  to  pass  away.  It  is  the  last  remnant 
of  the  "  Elizabethan  spirit"  in  the  South. 

In  considering  the  question  of  homicide  in  Kentucky, 
it  should  be  remembered  that,  although  the  personal 
combats  are  frequent,  other  forms  of  outrage  against 
the  person  are  of  very  rare  occurrence.  Murder  for 
money  is  almost  unknown,  and  is  swiftly  and  sternly 
punished.  The  ugly  category  of  violent  crimes  against 
women,  so  common  in  more  cultivated  communities, 
has  scarcely  a  place  in  its  history,  and  such  outbreaks 
of  degraded  passion  arouse  to  perfect  fury  this  commu- 
nity, which  has  not  yet  been  brought  to  consider  a  com- 
bat to  the  death  between  men  as  out  of  the  order  of 
nature. 

For  many  years  there  was  no  small  trouble  arising 
from  the  disposition  to  replace  the  regular  working  of 
the  law  by  the  spasmodic  justice  of  Judge  Lynch's 
courts.  This  evil  has  been  in  good  part  overcome. 
Ever  since  the  closing  of  the  war  the  State  authorities 
have  shown  a  commendable  anxiety  to  put  down  all 
such  outrages.  Whenever  there  has  seemed  a  risk  of 
lynching,  troops  have  been  furnished  to  guard  the  pris- 
oners. Only  a  year  ago  a  battalion  of  State  troops, 
guarding  a  wretched  murderer,  were  compelled  to  fire 
on  a  mob  at  Ashland,  Kentucky.     In  resisting  these 


THE  NEW  COMMONWEALTH.  405 

lynchers,  who  were  endeavoring  to  board  a  steamer  in 
which  the  culprit  was  being  taken  to  a  place  of  safety, 
a  dozen  lives,  partly  those  of  innocent  spectators,  were 
lost.  Such  terrible  lessons  will  soon  make  an  end  of 
this  class  of  misdemeanors,  whicb  are  as  much  con- 
demned by  the  serious  people  as  they  are  in  any  other 
society. 

The  disturbances  of  this  description  have  mainly  been 
limited  to  the  easternmost  part  of  the  State ;  certain 
counties  in  Eastern  Kentucky,  noticeably  the  county  of 
Breathitt,  have  been  the  seat  of  the  principal  mob  out- 
rages. In  this  region  tbere  are  certain  blood  feuds,  the 
heritage  of  the  Civil  War ;  in  these  feuds  the  decent 
citizens  have  been  settling  accounts  with  members  of 
guerrilla  bands  who  committed  outrages  in  the  Civil 
War.  On  the  one  side  are  arrayed  those  who  fought 
in  the  two  armies  and  their  descendants ;  on  the  other, 
a  clan  of  outlawish  folk  who  belonged  to  neither  side. 
This  isolated  region  has  been  more  or  less  engaged  in 
the  settlement  of  these  old  disputes  ever  since  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War.  The  district  has  suffered  much  loss 
of  life  in  this  chronic  struggle  ;  it  seems  at  length  to  be 
over;  the  dangerous  element  has  been  "eliminated" 
by  the  use  of  the  rifle,  or  has  taken  itself  away  to  other 
lands.  The  small  remainder  of  the  folk  who  hold  the 
ground  celebrated  last  year  the  return  of  peace  by 
building  a  large  school-house  at  the  county  seat.  Even 
in  the  worst  days  of  this  "  Breathitt  War,"  when  the 
courts,  if  held  at  all,  were  under  a  heavy  military  guard, 
the  county  was  safe  to  peaceable  citizens  and  to  trav- 
elers of  all  degree,  except  those  who  could  be  suspected 
of  being  on  the  lookout  for  illicit  distillers.  Yet  the 
people  in  this  district  are,  in  the  main,  a  manly,  frank- 


408  KENTUCKY. 

matured  folk,  and  were  always  ready  to  interrupt  their 
occupations  to  entertain  the  wayfarer  who  demanded 
their  hospitality. 

These  fierce,  bloodthirsty  qualities  will  speedily  dis- 
appear before  the  softening  process  of  civilization ;  all 
experience  shows  us  that  an  appetite  for  open  combat, 
blood  feuds,  and  other  savageries  of  this  sort,  often  co- 
exist with  admirable  qualities  of  head  and  heart.  In 
this  people  they  certainly  are  associated  with  generous 
natures,  and  a  singular  freedom  from  the  lower  vices 
that  are  found  among  many  less  unruly  peoples.  The 
condition  of  these  "hill  people  "  has  much  to  remind 
us  of  the  Scotch  Highlanders  a  century  ago ;  in  a  gen- 
eration that  folk  passed  from  a  rather  lawless  people 
to  quiet  citizens.  As  soon  as  roads  are  made  into  their 
wilderness,  so  that  they  can  make  money,  avarice,  that 
master  passion  of  the  race,  will  soon  subdue  this  archaic 
vice  of  violence. 

The  civil  law  of  Kentucky,  in  its  application  to  prop- 
erty, is  in  excellent  condition  ;  justice  is  quickly  and 
cheaply  rendered.  The  same  sound  commercial  instinct 
that  led  the  people  sooner  than  any  other  Western  State 
to  a  good  system  of  banking,  has  served  to  keep  them  in 
a  good  way  in  their  property  law.  There  is  now  an 
intermediate  court  between  the  circuit  and  appellate 
court,  but  this  arrangement  has  only  been  voted  on 
trial  for  the  term  of  four  years.  The  next  and  final 
step  in  litigation  is  to  the  appellate  court ;  the  repu- 
tation of  this  court,  among  jurists,  is  not  what  it  was 
in  the  days  before  the  judges  were  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple ;  it  has,  however,  always  been  confidently  looked 
to  for  justice,  even  under  circumstances  of  great  polit- 
ical excitement  and  wide-spread  prejudice. 


THE  NEW   COMMONWEALTH.  407 

In  its  motives  the  Kentucky  law  still  retains  much 
of  the  old  British  humor  ;  it  is  full  of  the  traditions  of 
the  country  whence  it  came.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  last  instance  of  a  prisoner  profiting  by  the 
beneficium  clericale,  or  benefit  of  clergy,  occurred  in  a 
Kentucky  court.  The  case  was  as  follows :  a  negro 
was  on  trial  for  the  crime  of  rape  before  Judge  Richard 
Buckner,  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  Glasgow,  in  Barren 
County.  As  the  offense  was  against  a  white  woman, 
the  prisoner  had  to  meet  the  bitter  prejudice  of  the 
jury.  A  verdict  of  guilty,  which  carried  with  it  the  death 
penalty,  was  returned,  though,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
judge,  the  man  was  clearly  innocent  of  the  crime.  The 
benefit  of  clergy  was  as  yet  unrepealed  in  Kentucky, 
and  in  it  the  sagacious  judge  found  a  way  of  escape 
from  the  task  of  sending  to  the  gallows  a  man  whom 
he  believed  to  be  innocent.  He  directed  the  prisoner's 
counsel  to  ask  the  benefit  of  clergy  for  his  client.  Then 
he  directed  the  clerk  of  the  court  to  test  the  prisoner  in 
reading  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ;  he  hav- 
ing proven  that  he  could  read,  the  court  ordered  him 
to  be  burned  in  the  hand  and  discharged  from  custody. 
In  1847  the  legislature  abolished  the  benefit  of  clergy.1 

The  moral  condition  of  the  State  in  regard  to  matters 
of  which  the  law  takes  imperfect  cognizance  is  satis- 
factory. The  vices  of  gambling  and  drunkenness,  once 
grave  evils,  have  very  greatly  diminished  since  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War.  The  evil  of  intemperance  in  drink  has 
undergone  a  very  singular  diminution  within  ten  years. 
There   is   probably  no   State  in  the  Union  where  the 

1  Colonel  John  Mason  Brown,  of  Louisville,  informs  me  that  he  has 
examined  into  the  record  of  this  incident,  and  that  the  facts  are  as 
given  above. 


408  KENTUCKY. 

recent  betterment  in  this  respect  has  been  greater.  It 
is  interesting  to  note  that  this  improvement  has  been  in- 
digenous, and  that  it  has  not  been  accomplished  through 
any  process  of  law  ;  there  is  a  statute  that  permits  the 
local  divisions,  called  precincts,  to  prohibit  the  sale  of 
spirits,  if  they  elect  so  to  do.  This  method  of  suppres- 
sion is  here  and  there  in  use,  but  it  has  not  been  gen- 
erally adopted.  The  cessation  of  intemperance  is  a  spon- 
taneous and  apparently  permanent  reaction  against  the 
excesses  of  early  days  ;  coming  swiftly  and  silently,  it 
constitutes  one  of  the  most  interesting  changes  of  the 
social  practice  that  has  ever  taken  place  in  any  Amer- 
ican community. 

Lastly,  we  may  note  the  fact  that  the  State  has  as 
yet  escaped  the  degradation  of  the  marriage  relation, 
arising  from  the  extreme  increase  of  divorce  that  is  so 
rapidly  becoming  a  menacing  evil  in  other  States.  Ex- 
cept among  the  negroes  the  family  relations  seem  to  be 
in  a  very  satisfactory  condition. 

As  a  whole  the  social  order  of  this  Commonwealth, 
considering  the  fierce  impulses  derived  from  its  early 
life,  is  in  an  eminently  satisfactory  condition.  The  his- 
tory of  the  Commonwealth  gives  us  one  of  the  most 
encouraging  chapters  in  the  history  of  our  English  race  ; 
it  shows  us  that  its  blood,  entirely  separated  for  two 
centuries  from  its  parent  influences,  can  carry  on  its 
development  on  the  American  soil,  undiminished  in 
vigor,  and  true  to  its  original  motives. 


APPENDIX  A. 


THE  RESOLUTIONS  OF  1798. 

The  Resolutions  of  1798,  as  is  well  known,  were  intended 
as  a  protest  against  the  unconstitutional  action  of  the  Fed- 
eral Congress  hi  enacthig  the  alien  and  sedition  laws.  In 
this  protest  the  States  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  intended 
not  only  to  manifest  their  deep  displeasure  on  account  of 
the  passage  of  these  acts,  but  to  give  publicity  to  the  inter- 
pretation which  they  put  upon  the  Federal  Compact.  On  this 
account  these  resolutions  have  a  great  political  importance. 

The  original  record  of  the  Kentucky  Resolutions  was  lost 
by  fire,  and  for  many  years  it  has  been  believed  by  the  stu- 
dents of  the  history  of  that  Commonwealth  that  no  attested 
copy  of  the  original  was  in  existence. 

Knowing  that  a  copy  of  the  document  had  been  sent  to 
the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  it  seemed  to  me  worth  while 
to  search  for  it  in  the  archives  of  the  secretary's  office  of 
that  Commonwealth.  The  search  was  kindly  undertaken  by 
the  present  secretary,  Henry  B.  Pierce  Esq.,  and  fortunately 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  copy  given  below. 

The  document  is  neatly  printed,  and  in  a  perfect  state  of 
preservation.  It  may  therefore  fairly  be  taken  as  an  exact 
copy  of  the  original. 

KENTUCKY  LEGISLATURE. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  November  10,  1798. 

The  House,  according  to  the  standing  order  of  the  day, 
resolved  itself  into  a  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state 


110  APPENDIX. 

of  the  Commonwealth,  Mr.  Caldwell  in  the  chair.  And  after 
some  time  spent  therein  the  Speaker  resumed  the  chair,  and 
Mr.  Caldwell  reported  that  the  Committee  had,  according 
to  order,  had  under  consideration  the  Governor's  Address,  and 
had  come  to  the  following  Resolutions  thereupon,  which  he 
delivered  in  at  the  clerk's  table,  where  they  were  twice  read 
and  agreed  to  by  the  House. 

I.  Resolved,  that  the  several  States  composing  the  United 
States  of  America,  are  not  united  on  the  principle  of  unlim- 
ited submission  to  their  general  government  ;  but  that  by 
compact  under  the  style  and  title  of  a  Constitution  for  the 
United  States  and  of  amendments  thereto,  they  constituted  a 
general  government  for  special  purposes,  delegated  to  that 
government  certain  definite  powers,  reserving  each  State  to 
itself,  the  residuary  mass  of  right  to  their  own  self-govern- 
ment ;  and  that  whensoever  the  general  government  assumes 
undelegated  powers,  its  acts  are  unauthoritative,  void,  and  of 
no  force  :  That  to  this  compact  each  State  acceded  as  a 
State,  and  is  an  integral  party,  its  co-States  forming,  as  to  it- 
self, the  other  party  :  That  the  government  created  by  this 
compact  was  not  made  the  exclusive  or  final  judge  of  the  ex- 
tent of  the  powers  delegated  to  itself  ;  since  that  would  have 
made  its  discretion,  and  not  the  Constitution,  the  measure  of 
its  powers  ;  but  that  as  in  all  other  cases  of  compact  among 
parties  having  no  common  Judge,  each  party  has  an  equal 
right  to  judge  for  itself,  as  well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode 
and  measure  of  redress. 

II.  Resolved,  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
having  delegated  to  Congress  a  power  to  punish  treason, 
counterfeiting  the  securities  and  current  coin  of  the  United 
States,  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas, 
and  offenses  against  the  laws  of  nations,  and  no  other  crimes 
whatever,  and  it  being  true  as  a  general  principle,  and  one  of 
the  amendments  to  the  Constitution  having  also  declared 
"  that  the  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the 
Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved 
to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people,"  therefore  also 
the  same  act  of  Congress  passed  on  the  14th  day  of  July, 
1798,  and  entitled  "  An  act  in  addition  to  the  act  entitled  an 
act  for  the  punishment  of  certain  crimes  against  the  United 
States  ;  "  as  also  the  act  passed  by  them  on  the  27th  day  of 
June,  1798,  entitled  "  An  act  to  punish  frauds  committed  on 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States "   (and  all  other  their  acts 


APPENDIX.  411 

which  assume  to  create,  define,  or  punish  crimes  other  than 
those  enumerated  in  the  Constitution),  are  altogether  void 
and  of  no  force,  and  that  the  power  to  create,  define,  and 
punish  such  other  crimes  is  reserved,  and  of  right  appertains 
solely  and  exclusively  to  the  respective  States,  each  within 
its  own  Territory. 

III.  Resolved,  that  it  is  true  as  a  general  principle,  and  is 
also  expressly  declared  by  one  of  the  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  that ."  the  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States, 
are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people  ;  " 
and  that  no  power  over  the  freedom  of  religion,  freedom 
of  speech,  or  freedom  of  the  press  being  delegated  to  the 
United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the 
States,  all  lawful  powers  respecting  the  same  did  of  right 
remain,  and  were  reserved  to  the  States,  or  to  the  people  : 
That  thus  was  manifested  their  determination  to  retain  to 
themselves  the  right  of  judging  how  far  the  licentiousness  of 
speech  and  of  the  press  may  be  abridged  without  lessening 
their  useful  freedom,  and  how  far  those  abuses  which  cannot 
be  separated  from  their  use  should  be  tolerated  rather  than 
the  use  be  destroyed  ;  and  thus  also  they  guarded  against  all 
abridgment  by  the  United  States  of  the  freedom  of  relig- 
ious opinions  and  exercises,  and  retained  to  themselves  the 
right  of  protecting  the  same,  as  this  State,  by  a  law  passed 
on  the  general  demand  of  its  citizens,  had  already  pro- 
tected them  from  all  human  restraint  or  interference  :  And 
that  in  addition  to  this  general  principle  and  express  dec- 
laration, another  and  more  special  provision  has  been  made 
by  one  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution  which  expressly 
declares,  that  "  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an 
establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof,  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press," 
therein-  guarding  in  the  same  sentence,  and  under  the  same 
words,  the  freedom  of  religion,  of  speech,  and  of  the  press, 
insomuch,  that  whatever  violates  either,  throws  down  the 
sanctuary  which  covers  the  others,  and  that  libels,  false- 
hoods, defamation  equally  with  heresy  and  false  religion,  are 
withheld  from  the  cognizance  of  Federal  tribunals.  That 
therefore  the  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  passed 
on  the  14th  day  of  July,  1798,  entitled  "  An  act  in  addition 
to  the  act  for  the  punishment  of  certain  crimes  against  the 
United  States,"  which  does  abridge  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
is  not  law,  but  is  altogether  void  and  of  no  effect. 


412  APPENDIX. 

IV.  Resolved,  that  alien  friends  are  under  the  jurisdiction 
and  protection  of  the  laws  of  the  State  wherein  they  are  ; 
that  no  power  over  them  has  been  delegated  to  the  United 
States,  nor  prohibited  to  the  individual  States  distinct  from 
their  power  over  citizens  ;  and  it  being  true  as  a  general 
principle,  and  one  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
having  also  declared  that  "  the  powers  not  delegated  to  the 
United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the 
States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  peo- 
ple," the  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  passed  on 
the  22d  day  of  June,  1798,  entitled  "  An  act  concerning 
aliens,"  which  assumes  power  over  alien  friends  not  dele- 
gated by  the  Constitution,  is  not  law,  but  is  altogether  void 
and  of  no  force. 

V.  Resolved,  that  in  addition  to  the  general  principle  as 
well  as  the  express  declaration,  that  powers  not  delegated 
are  reserved,  another  and  more  special  provision  inserted  in 
the  Constitution  from  abundant  caution  has  declared,  "  that 
the  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the 
States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be 
prohibited  by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  year  1808."  That 
this  Commonwealth  does  admit  the  migration  of  alien  friends 
described  as  the  subject  of  the  said  act  concerning  aliens  ; 
that  a  provision  against  prohibiting  their  migration  is  a  pro- 
vision against  all  acts  equivalent  thereto,  or  it  would  be  nu- 
gatory ;  that  to  remove  them  when  migrated  is  equivalent  to 
a  prohibition  of  their  migration,  and  is  therefore  contrary  to 
the  said  provision  of  the  Constitution,  and  void. 

VI.  Resolved,  that  the  imprisonment  of  a  person  under 
the  protection  of  the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth  on  his  fail- 
ure to  obey  the  simple  order  of  the  President  to  depart  out 
of  the  United  States,  as  is  undertaken  by  the  said  act  enti- 
tled "  An  act  concerning  aliens,"  is  contrary  to  the  Consti- 
tution, one  amendment  to  which  has  provided,  that  "no  per- 
son shall  be  deprived  of  liberty  without  due  process  of 
law,"  and  that  another  having  provided  "  that  in  all  criminal 
prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  public 
trial  by  an  impartial  jury,  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and 
cause  of  the  accusation,  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses 
against  him,  to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining  wit- 
nesses in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for 
his  defense,"  the  same  act  undertaking  to  authorize  the  Pres- 
ident to  remove  a  person  out  of  the  United  States  who  is 
under  the  protection  of  the  law,  on  his  own  suspicion,  with- 


APPENDIX.  413 

out  accusation,  without  jury,  without  puhlic  trial,  without 
confrontation  of  the  witnesses  against  him,  without  having 
witnesses  in  his  favor,  without  defense,  without  counsel,  is 
contrary  to  these  provisions  also  of  the  Constitution,  is  there- 
fore not  law,  hut  utterly  void  and  of  no  force.  That  trans- 
ferring the  power  of  judging  any  person  who  is  under  the 
protection  of  the  laws,  from  the  courts  to  the  President  of  the 
United  .States,  as  is  undertaken  by  the  same  act  concerning 
aliens,  is  against  the  article  of  the  Constitution  which  pro- 
vides, that  "the  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
vested  in  courts,  the  judges  of  which  shall  hold  their  offices 
during  good  behavior,"  and  that  the  said  act  is  void  for  that 
reason  also  ;  and  it  is  further  to  be  noted,  that  this  transfer 
of  judiciary  power  is  to  that  magistrate  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment who  already  possesses  all  the  executive,  and  a  quali- 
fied negative  in  all  the  legislative  powers. 

VII.  Resolved,  that  the  construction  applied  by  the  gen- 
eral government  (as  is  evinced  by  sundry  of  their  proceed- 
ings) to  those  parts  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
which  delegate  to  Congress  a  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes, 
duties,  imposts,  and  excises  ;  to  pay  the  debts,  and  provide 
for  the  common  defense,  and  general  welfare  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and 
proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  powers  vested  by  the 
Constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  any 
department  thereof,  goes  to  the  destruction  of  all  the  limits 
prescribed  to  their  power  by  the  Constitution  :  That  words 
meant  by  that  instrument  to  be  subsidiary  only  to  the  execu- 
tion of  the  limited  powers  ought  not  to  be  so  construed  as 
themselves  to  give  unlimited  powers,  nor  a  part  so  to  be  taken 
as  to  destroy  the  whole  residue  of  the  instrument  :  That  the 
proceedings  of  the  general  government  under  color  of  these 
articles  will  be  a  fit  and  necessary  subject  for  revisal  and 
correction  at  a  time  of 'greater  tranquillity,  while  those  sj)eci- 
fied  in  the  preceding  resolutions  call  for  immediate  redress. 

VIII.  Resolved,  that  the  preceding  Resolutions  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress  from 
this  Commonwealth,  who  are  hereby  enjoined  to  present  the 
same  to  their  respective  Houses,  and  to  use  their  best  en- 
deavors to  procure,  at  the  next  session  of  Congress,  a  repeal 
of  the  aforesaid  unconstitutional  and  obnoxious  acts. 

IX.  Resolved,  lastly,  that  the  Governor  of  this  Common- 
wealth be,  and  is  hereby  authorized  and  requested  to  com- 
municate the  preceding  Resolutions  to  the  Legislatures  of  tha 


414  APPENDIX. 

several  States,  to  assure  them  that  this  Commonwealth  con- 
siders Union  for  specified  National  purposes,  and  particularly 
for  those  specified  in  their  late  Federal  Compact,  to  he 
friendly  to  the  peace,  happiness,  and  prosperity  of  all  the 
States  :  that  faithful  to  that  compact  according  to  the  plain 
intent  and  meaning  in  which  it  was  understood  and  acceded 
to  by  the  several  parties,  it  is  sincerely  anxious  for  its  preser- 
vation :  that  it  does  also  believe,  that  to  take  from  the  States 
all  the  powers  of  self-government,  and  transfer  them  to  a 
general  and  consolidated  government,  without  regard  to  the 
special  delegations  and  reservations  solemnly  agreed  to  in 
that  compact,  is  not  for  the  peace,  happiness,  or  prosperity 
of  these  States  :  And  that,  therefore,  this  Commonwealth  is 
determined,  as  it  doubts  not  its  co-States  are,  tamely  to  sub- 
mit to  undelegated  and  consequently  unlimited  powers  in  no 
man  or  body  of  men  on  earth  :  that  if  the  acts  before  speci- 
fied should  stand,  these  conclusions  would  flow  from  them  ; 
that  the  general  government  may  place  any  act  they  think 
proper  on  the  list  of  crimes  and  punish  it  themselves,  whether 
enumerated  or  not  enumerated  by  the  Constitution  as  cog- 
nizable by  them  :  that  they  may  transfer  its  cognizance  to 
the  President  or  any  other  person,  who  may  himself  be  the 
accuser,  counsel,  judge,  and  jury,  whose  suspicious  may  be 
the  evidence,  his  order  the  sentence,  his  officer  the  execu- 
tioner, and  his  breast  the  sole  record  of  the  transaction  :  that 
a  very  numerous  and  valuable  description  of  the  inhabitants 
of  these  States  being  by  this  precedent  reduced  as  outlaws 
to  the  absolute  dominion  of  one  man,  and  the  barrier  of  the 
Constitution  thus  swept  away  from  us  all,  no  rampart  now 
remains  against  the  passions  and  the  powers  of  a  majority  of 
Congress,  to  protect  from  a  like  exportation  or  other  more 
grievous  punishment  the  minority  of  the  same  body,  the  leg- 
islature, judges,  governors,  and  counselors  of  the  States,  nor 
their  other  peaceable  inhabitants  who  may  venture  to  reclaim 
the  constitutional  rights  and  liberties  of  the  State  and  people, 
or  who  for  other  causes,  good  or  bad,  may  be  obnoxious  to 
the  views  or  marked  by  the  suspicions  of  the  President,  or 
be  thought  dangerous  to  his  or  their  elections  or  other  inter- 
ests, public  or  personal  :  that  the  friendless  alien  has  indeed 
been  selected  as  the  safest  subject  of  a  first  experiment,  but 
the  citizen  will  soon  follow,  or  rather  has  already  followed  : 
for,  already  has  a  sedition  act  marked  him  as  its  prey  :  that 
these  and  successive  acts  of  the  same  character,  unless  ar- 
rested on  the  threshold,  may  tend  to  drive  these  States  into 


APPENDIX.  415 

revolution  and  blood,  and  will  furnish  new  caluirnies  against 
Republican  governments,   and  new  pretexts  for  those  who 
wish  it  to  be  believed,  that  man  cannot  be  governed  but  by  a 
rod  of  iron  :  that  it  woidd  be  a  dangerous  delusion  were  a 
confidence  in  the   men  of  our  choice  to  silence  our   fears  for 
the  safety  of  our  rights  :  that  confidence  is  everywhere  the 
parent  of  despotism  :  free  government  is  founded  in  jealousy 
and    not    in   confidence ;   it    is    jealousy  and  not    confidence 
which   prescribes   limited  Constitutions  to  bind  down  those 
whom  we  are  obliged  to  trust  with  power  :  that  our  Consti- 
tution has  accordingly  fixed  the  limits  to  which  and  no  fur- 
ther our  confidence  may  go  ;  and  let  the  honest  advocate  of 
confidence   read  the  alien  and  sedition  acts,  and  say  if  the 
Constitution  has  not  been  wise  in  fixing  limits  to  the  govern- 
ment it  created,  and  whether  we  should  be  wise  in  destroy- 
ing those  limits  ;  let  him  say  what  the  government  is  if  it 
be  not  a  tyranny,  which  the  men  of  our  choice  have  conferred 
on  the  President,  and  the  President  of  our  choice  has  as- 
sented to  and  accepted  over  the  friendly  strangers,  to  whom 
the  mild  spirit  of  our  country  and  its  laws  had  pledged  hos- 
pitality and   protection  :    that  the  men  of  our  choice  have 
more  respected  the  bare  suspicions  of  the  President  than  the 
solid  rights  of  innocence,  the  claims  of  justification,  the  sa- 
cred force  of  truth,  and  the  forms  and  substance  of  law  and 
justice.     In  questions  of  power  then  let  no  more  be  heard  of 
confidence  in  man,  but  bind  him  down  from  mischief  by  the 
claims  of  the  Constitution.     That  this  Commonwealth  does 
therefore  call  on  its  co-States  for  an  expression  of  their  sen- 
timents on  the   acts  concerning  aliens,  and  for  the  punish- 
ment of  certain  crimes  herein  before  specified,  plainly  declar- 
ing whether  these   acts   are   or  are  not  authorized  by  the 
Federal  Compact.     And  it  doubts  not  that  their  sense  will 
be  so  announced   as  to  prove  their  attachment  unaltered  to 
limited  government,  whether  general  or  particular,  and  that 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  their  co-States  will  be  exposed  to 
no  dangers  by  remaining  embarked  on  a  common  bottom 
with  their  own  :  That  they  will  concur  with  this  Common- 
wealth in  considering  the  said  acts  as  so  palpably  against  the 
Constitution  as  to  amount  to  an  undisguised  declaration,  that 
the  compact  is  not  meant  to  be  the  measure  of  the  powers  of 
the  general  government,  but  that  it  will  proceed  in  the  exer- 
cise over  these  States  of  all  powers  whatsoever  :  That  they 
will  view  this  as  seizing  the  rights  of  the  States  and  consoli- 
dating them  in  the  hands  of  the  general  government  with  a 


416  APPENDIX. 

power  assumed  to  bind  the  States  (not  merely  in  cases  made 
Federal)  but  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  by  laws  made,  not  with 
their  consent,  but  by  others  against  their  consent :  That  this 
would  be  to  surrender  the  form  of  government  we  have 
chosen,  and  to  live  under  one  deriving  its  powers  from  its 
own  will,  and  not  from  our  authoi-ity  ;  and  that  the  co-States, 
recurring  to  their  natural  right  in  cases  not  made  Federal, 
will  concur  in  declaring  these  acts  void  and  of  no  force,  and 
will  each  unite  with  this  Commonwealth  in  requesting  their 
repeal  at  the  next  session  of  Congress. 

Edmund  Bullock,  S.  H.  R. 
John  Campbell,  S.  S.  P.  T. 
Passed  the  House  of  Representatives  Nov.  10,  1798. 

Attest:  Thomas  Todd,  C.  H.  R. 
In  Senate,  Nov.  13,  1798,  unanimously  concurred  in. 

Attest :  B.  Thruston,  Clk.  Sen. 
Approved  Nov.  16,  1798. 

James  Garrard,  G.  K. 
By  the  Governor. 

Harry  Toulmin, 

Secretary  of  Stale. 

Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 
Secretary's  Department,  Boston,  October  20,  1884. 
A  true  copy  of  the  original,  on  file  in  this  Department. 
Witness  the  Seal  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Henry  B.  Pierce, 
[L.  S.]  Secretary. 


APPENDIX  B. 


The  following  tables  are  taken  from  the  statistics  of  the 
tenth  census  of  the  United  States.  They  are  intended  to 
give  the  reader  a  basis  on  which  to  criticise  some  of  the  gen- 
eral statements  in  the  foregoing  pages,  and  not  as  a  statistical 
account  of  the  Commonwealth,  a  task  that  is  beyond  the  pur- 
pose of  this  very  limited  book. 

The  reader  who  desires  to  extend  his  knowledge  of  the 


APPENDIX.  417 

statistics  of  the  State  should  consult  the  tables  of  the  last 
census.  The  following  indications  will  aid  him  in  an  effort 
to  understand  the  movements  of  population  to  and  from  Ken- 
tucky. In  volume  1,  p.  417,  of  the  statistics  of  the  tenth 
census  he  will  find  a  map  showing  the  residence  of  the  na- 
tives of  Kentucky  in  that  as  well  as  other  States.  This  will 
show  how  large  has  been  the  emigration  from  Kentucky  to 
the  Northwestern  States.  The  map  on  page  273  of  the  same 
volume  shows  the  relative  amount  of  the  foreign-born  popula- 
tion in  Kentucky  and  the  States  bordering  it  on  the  north  :  — 

TABLE    I. 

Native  White  Population  of  Kentucky  distributed  accord- 
ing to  State  or  Territory  of  Birth. 

place  of  birth.  number. 

United  States 1,317,725 

Kentucky 1,149,994 

Alabama 1,502 

Arkansas 1,024 

California 125 

Connecticut 340 

Delaware 153 

Florida 68 

Georgia 1,807 

Illinois 5,522 

Indiana 18,104 

Iowa        802 

Kansas 335 

Louisiana 9G2 

Maine 261 

Maryland 1,950 

Massachusetts 787 

Michigan 385 

Minnesota 82 

Mississippi       1,417 

Missouri 4,887 

New  Hampshire 181 

New  Jersey 701 

New  York 3,715 

North  Carolina 8,946 

Ohio       26,769 

27 


418  APPENDIX. 

Table  I.  continued. 

Pennsylvania 5,952 

South  Carolina 1,211 

Tennessee 46,828 

Texas 624 

Vermont 252 

Virginia 30,193 

West  Virginia 1,677 

Wisconsin 240 

District  of  Columbia 187 


TABLE  II. 

Showing  Number  of  those  Born  in  Kentucky  Resident  in 
other  States  and  Territories. 

Alabama 2,624 

Arkansas 18,039 

California 7,851 

Colorado 3,786 

Connecticut 155 

Delaware 45 

Florida 668 

Georgia 1,136 

Illinois 61,920 

Indiana 73,928 

Iowa 12,920 

Kansas 32,978 

Louisiana 6,564 

,  Maine 42 

Maryland 422 

Massachusetts 502 

Michigan 1,732 

Minnesota 2,151 

Mississippi 7,844 

Missouri 102,799 

Nebraska 4,034 

Nevada 578 

New  Hampshire 47 

New  Jersey 483 

New  York 1,720 

North  Carolina       365 

Ohio 32,492 


APPENDIX.  419 

Table  II.  continued. 

Oregon 2,754 

Pennsylvania 1,829 

Rhode  Island 76 

South  Carolina 194 

Tennessee 24,868 

Texas 34,121 

Vermont 28 

Virginia 2,087 

West  Virginia 4,361 

Wisconsin 1,410 


TABLE  III. 

Showing  the  Nativities  of  Foeeign-Born  Population  in 
Kentucky. 

Austria  proper 142 

Belgium 105 

Canada 1,010 

Denmark 73 

Baden 2,668 

Bavaria 3,352 

Hamburg 95 

Hanover 2,264 

Hessen 1,381 

Nassau 187 

Oldenburg 610 

Prussia 6,657 

Saxony 522 

Wiirtemberg 1,368 

Germany,  not  specified 11,212 

England 4,100 

Ireland 18,256 

Scotland 982 

Wales 394 

Holland 262 

Italy 370 

Poland 124 

Russia 63 

Sweden 95 

Switzerland 1,130 

Total •    •  59,517 


420  APPENDIX. 

TABLE  IV. 

Native  Colored  Population  of  Kentucky  according  to 
State  or  Territory  of  Birth. 

Kentucky 252,618 

Alabama 352 

Arkansas 112 

Georgia 364 

Illinois 152 

Indiana 341 

Louisiana      .     .     .  • 282 

Maryland 307 

Mississippi 566 

Missouri 530 

North  Carolina 792 

Ohio 346 

Pennsylvania 80 

South  Carolina 319 

Tennessee 7,558 

Texas 117 

Virginia 6,322 

West  Virginia 59 

Wisconsin 78 

Total  American  born 271,448 

The  foregoing  tables  show  the  origin  and  in  a  general  way 
the  distribution  of  the  Kentucky  people.  It  should  be  no- 
ticed that  when  in  the  census  tables  the  number  of  immi- 
grants from  any  other  State,  or  the  Kentuckians  settling  in 
any  other  State,  are  less  in  number  than  fifty  they  have  no 
place  in  the  table,  though  counted  in  the  totals. 

The  most  important  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  these 
tables  is  that  Kentucky  has  received  a  much  less  considerable 
number  of  people  from  other  countries  than  she  has  sent  to 
other  States  of  this  Union.  In  1880  the  total  number  of  per- 
sons born  in  Kentucky  and  then  resident  beyond  the  State 
amounted  to  about  380,000,  while  those  born  in  other  States 
of  this  Union  and  resident  in  Kentucky  amounted  to  about 
168,000.  In  other  words,  Kentucky  has  of  late  been  sending 
out  more  than  twice  the  number  of  persons  that  she  has  re- 


APPENDIX. 


421 


ceived  from  the  other  American  States.  In  the  early  decades 
of  the  century  the  proportion  of  these  two  movements  was 
even  more  diverse. 

Next  we  note  that  the  greater  part  of  this  immigration 
into  Kentucky  has  heen  from  immediately  adjacent  States. 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Tennessee,  Missouri,  and  Virginia  have  fur- 
nished more  than  half  the  total  number.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  emigrating  Kentuckians  have  as  a  whole  gone  to  more 
remote  States. 

The  relatively  little  emigration  of  the  negroes  is  also 
well  shown  by  these  tables.  It  will  be  seen  that  less  than 
twenty  thousand  of  the  blacks,  or  about  one  fourteenth  of  the 
population,  were  born  in  other  States. 

TABLE  V. 
Population  of  Kentucky  during  the  Last  Ten  Decades. 


1880. 

1870. 

I860.    1830. 

1S40. 

1830. 

1820. 

1810. 

1800. 

1790. 

1,648,690  1.321.C11  1,135,684  982,405 

r79,828 

687,917 

504,105 

406,511 

220,955 

73,677 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  table  that  the  rate  of 
increase  has  been  remarkably  steady  for  the  decades  since 
1810.  The  most  noticeable  difference  being  in  1830-40, 
when  the  emigration  to  the  Western  States  was  very  great. 
The  disturbances  of  the  Civil  War  made  but  a  slight  inter- 
ruption. 

Table  VI.  shows  that  the  negroes  and  whites  in  Kentucky 
are  almost  equally  fecund,  the  negroes  having  a  slight  but 
unimportant  superiority  in  the  number  of  births  in  the  thou- 
sand; but  among  the  negroes  the  proportion  of  male  and 
female  children  is  almost  exactly  the  same,  or  208  to  207, 
while  among  the  whites  the  males  exceed  the  females  at 
birth  in  the  proportion  of  126  to  122.  This  proportion  is 
approximately  maintained  through  life. 

Between  ten  and  fifteen  years  of  age  an  important  change 
is  observed:   the  negro  children  of  that  age  form  less  than 


422 


APPENDIX. 


a 

w 
a 
o 
■J 
o 
O 

o 

1 

20,732 

19,870 

16,813 

14,628 

15,198 

11,464 

8,044 

7,381 

5,944 

4,747 

4,183 

2,242 

2,434 

1,337 

1,196 

583 

447 

166 

116 

51 

102 

CO 

I— 

SO 
CO 

"3 
3 

20,898 

19,788 

17,255 

14,233 

14,112 

10,674 

7,571 

6,893 

5,335 

4,106 

4,473 

2,589 

2,366 

1,478 

1,001 

526 

313 

104 

65 

19 

34 

CO 

CO 

co_ 

co~ 

CO 
r-l 

3 

o 
H 

41,630 

39,658 

34,068 

28,861 

29.310 

22,138 

15,615 

14,274 

11,279 

8,853 

8,656 

4,831 

4,800 

2,815 

2,197 

1,109 

760 

270 

181 

70 

136 

us 

s 

"3 

a 

o 

101,374 

97,050 

84,926 

78,962 

69,969 

51,211 

41,505 

37,255 

29,777 

24,774 

21,224 

14,469 

11,903 

8,179 

5,286 

3,084 

1,637 

678 

174 

52 

33 

co" 
I- 

"3 

105,343 

100,137 

88,386 

73,270 

68,594 

52,736 

43,106 

37,438 

30,033 

25,026 

23,440 

16,494 

13,852 

9,113 

6,154 

3,300 

1,563 

559 

131 

39 

16 

lO 

1^ 

CO 

en 
to 

3 

o 

206,717 

197.1S7 

173,312 

147,232 

138,563 

103,974 

84,611 

74,693 

59,810 

49,800 

44,644 

30,963 

25,755 

17,292 

11,440 

6,384 

3,200 

1,137 

305 

91 

49 

OS 
CO 

■0 

o 

d 

"3 
S 
Pa 

122,106 

116,920 

101,739 

88,590 

85,167 

62,675 

49,549 

44,636 

35,721 

29,521 

25,407 

16,711 

14,337 

9,516 

6,482 

3,667 

2,084 

774 

£90 

103 

135 

5 

CO 

126,241 

119,925 

105,641 

87,503 

82,706 

63,437 

50,677 

44,331 

35,308 

29,132 

27,913 

19,083 

16,218 

10,591 

7,155 

3,826 

1,876 

663 

196 

•     58 

50 

o 

en 

e>f 

CO 
CO 

"3 

H 

248,347 

236,845 

207,380 

176,093 

167,873 

126,112 

100,226 

88,967 

71,089 

58,653 

53,320 

35,794 

30,555 

20,107 

13,637 

7,493 

3,960 

1,407 

486 

161 

185 

o 

en 
co_ 

CO* 

CO 

< 

Under  5  years  . 
5  to  9  years 
10  to  14  years 
15  to  19  years 
20  to  24  yeaxa 
25  to  29  years 
30  to  34  years 
35  to  39  years 
40  to  44  years  . 
45  to  49  years 
50  to  54  years 
55  to  59  years 
60  to  64  years 
65  to  69  years 
70  to  74  years 
75  to  79  yeaxa 
80  to  S4  yeaxa 
85  to  S9  years 
90  to  94  years 
95  to  100  years 

100  and  over 

"3 

B 

APPENDIX. 


423 


one  ninth  of  the  total  of  that  race,  while  the  white  children 
of  that  age  amount  to  over  one  eighth  of  the  total  population 
of  their  hloocl.  Between  the  ages  of  twenty-five  and  twenty- 
nine  the  same  feature  is  not  discernible;  the  negroes  then  have 
estahlished  themselves  in  their  conditions,  and  afterwards 
have  a  promise  of  longevity  quite  equal  to  the  whites. 

As  far  as  statistics  go  the  principal  differences  between 
the  races  in  Kentucky  seem  to  be  :  that  the  negroes  have 
a  larger  proportion  of  female  births,  a  larger  infant  mortal- 
ity, and,  after  middle  age,  a  greater  expectation  of  life, 
though  the  well-known  fancy  of  old  blacks  for  claiming  a 
greater  age  than  they  have  attained  doubtless  vitiates  this 
part  of  the  statistics. 

TABLE    VII. 

Table  showing  the  Relative  Production  as  compared  with 
Other  States,  of  Certain  Agricultural  Staples  in  Ken- 
tucky, in  Successive  Decades. 


Wheat 

Maize 

Rye 

Tobacco 

Flax 

Hemp 

Cotton 

Swine 

Mules 

Value  of  home  (or  house- 
hold) manufactures  . 


1840. 


First 

Second 

Fourth 

SecQnd 

Third 

Eleventh 

Second 
Second 

Third 


1850. 


Ninth 
First 

Second 

First 
First 

Second 
Second 


1860. 


Ninth 

Fifth 
Second 
Third 
First 

Fourth 
Second 

Second 


1870. 


Eighth 

Sixth 
Fifth 
First 

Eighth 

First 

Twelfth 

Fifth 

Third 

Third 


This  table  shows  the  degree  to  which  the  climate  and  soil 
of  Kentucky  are  adapted  to  a  varied  agriculture.  It  will  be 
observed  that  in  each  decade  the  Commonwealth  is  foremost 
among  the  States  of  the  American  Union  in  the  production 
of  some  one  or  more  staples. 


LIST  OF  KENTUCKY  HISTORIES  AND  BOOKS  RE- 
LATING TO  THE  SUBJECT,  ALPHABETICALLY 
ARRANGED.* 


Allen,  William  B.    A  History  of  Kentucky.    Louisville.    1872. 

Arthur,  T.  S.,  and  W.  H.  Carpenter.  The  History  of  Ken- 
tucky.    Philadelphia.     1852. 

Atherton,  William.  Narrative  of  the  Sufferings  and  Defeat 
of  the  Northwest  Army  under  General  Winchester.  Frankfort. 
1842. 

Bishop,  Robert  H.  An  Outline  of  the  History  of  the  Church 
in  Kentucky.     Lexington.     1824. 

Bradford,  John.  Sketches  of  Kentucky  in  a  Series  of  Articles 
in  the  Kentucky  Gazette.     Lexington.     1826. 

Breckinridge,  W.  C.  P.  Address  delivered  at  the  Centennial 
Celebration  of  the  Settlement  of  Breckinridge  County.  Frank- 
fort.    1882. 

Brown,  John  Mason.  An  Oration  delivered  on  the  Occasion  of 
the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  the  Blue  Licks. 
Frankfort.     1882. 

Butler,  Mann.  A  History  of  the  .Commonwealth  of  Kentucky. 
Louisville.     1834. 

Do.     Second  edition.     Cincinnati.     1836. 

Do.  Sketch  of  Louisville  in  the  Directory  of  1832.  Louis- 
ville.    1832. 

Caneday,  Ben.     The  History  of  Louisville.     Louisville.    1852. 

Carpenter,  T.  The  Trial  of  Colonel  Aaron  Burr.  3  vols. 
Washington.     1807. 

Clark,  George  Rogers.  Sketch  of  his  Campaign  in  Illinois. 
Cincinnati.     1869. 

Collins,  Lewis.     History  of  Kentucky.     Covington.     1847. 

1  This  list  has  been  furnished  by  R.  T.  Durrett,  Esq.,  of  Louisville, 
Kentucky. 


LIST  OF  KENTUCKY  HISTORIF.S.  425 

Collins,  Richard  H.  History  of  Kentucky.  2  vols.  Coving- 
ton.    1874, 

Craik,  Rev.  James.  Historical  Sketches  of  Christ's  Church. 
Louisville.     1862. 

Dana,  E.  Geographical  Sketches  of  the  Western  Country. 
Cincinnati.     1819. 

Darien,  Joseph  Hamilton.  View  of  the  President's  Conduct. 
Frankfort.     1807. 

Darnell,  Elias.  A  Journal  containing  an  Accurate  and  Inter- 
esting Account  of  the  Hardship,  etc.,  of  the  Kentucky  Volunteers. 
Philadelphia.     1854. 

Davidson,  Robert.  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Kentucky.     New  York.     1847. 

Do.    An  Excursion  to  the  Mammoth  Cave.    Lexington.    1840. 

Deering,  Richard.     Louisville  in  1859.     Louisville.     1859. 

Drake,  Daniel.  Pioneer  Life  in  Kentucky,  a  Series  of  Remi- 
niscential  Letters.     Cincinnati.     1870. 

Duke,  Basil  W.  History  of  Morgan's  Cavalry.  Cincinnati. 
1867. 

Durrett,  Reuben  T.  The  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Filson, 
the  first  Historian  of  Kentucky.    Louisville  and  Cincinnati.    1884. 

Filson,  John.  The  Discovery,  Settlement,  and  Present  State 
of  Kentucke.     Wilmington.     1784. 

Do.     Stockdale  edition.     London.     1793. 

Do.     Campbell  edition.     New  York.     1793. 

Fitzroy,  Alexander.  The  Discovery,  Purchase,  and  Settlement 
of  the  Country  of  Kentucky.     London.     1786. 

Flint,  Timothy.    Indian  Wars  of  the  West.    Cincinnati.    1833. 

Hall,  James.  Sketches  of  History,  Life,  and  Manners  in  the 
West.     2  vols.     Philadelphia.     1835. 

Hutchins,  Thomas.  A  Topographical  Description  of  Virginia, 
etc.     London.     1778. 

Imlay,  Gilbert.  A  Topographical  Description  of  the  Western 
Territory  of  North  America.     London.     1792. 

Do.     Second  edition.     London.     1793. 

Do.     Third  edition.     London.     1797. 

Joblen,  M.,  &  Co.  Louisville,  Past  and  Present.  Louisville. 
1875. 

Johnston,  Win.  Preston.  The  Life  of  General  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston.     New  York.     1878. 


426  LIST  OF  KENTUCKY  HISTORIES. 

Kentucky.      The    Biographical     Encyclopaedia.      Cincinnati. 
1878. 

Kentucky.     Decisions  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  by  Hughes, 
Sneed,  Hardin,  Bibb,  and  A.  K.  Marshall. 

Kentucky.     Journal  of  House  and  Senate,  first  Session  of  the 
Legislature,  June,  1792.     Lexington.     1792. 

Kentucky.    Report  of  Debates  in  Convention  of  1S49.     Frank- 
fort.    1849. 

Kentucky.     Resolutions  of  1798-99.     Frankfort.     1798-99. 

Littell,   William.      Political   Transactions   in  and  concerning 
Kentucky.     Frankfort.     1806. 

Do.     Laws  of  Kentucky.     5  vols.     Frankfort.     1809-1819. 

Lloyd,  James  T.     Steamboat  Directory  and  Disasters  on  the 
"Western  Waters.     Cincinnati.     1856. 

Marshall,  Humphrey.     The  History  of  Kentucky.     Frankfort. 
1812. 

Do.     Second  edition.     2  vols.     Frankfort.     1824. 

McAfee,  Robert     History  of  the  Late  War.    Lexington.    1816. 

McClurg,  John  A.     Sketches  of  Western  Adventure.     Mays- 
ville.     1832. 

Do.     Dayton,  0.     1854. 

Do.     Covington,  Ky.     1872. 

McDonald,  John.    Biographical  Sketches  of  General  Nathaniel 
Massie,  etc.     Cincinnati.     1838. 

McMasters,  H.   Sketches  of  Louisville  and  its  Environs.    Louis- 
ville.    1819. 

Metcalf,  Samuel  L.     A  Collection  of  Some  of  the  most  Inter- 
esting Narratives.     Lexington.     1821. 

Morehead,  James  T.     An  Address  in  Commemoration  of  the 
First  Settlement  of  Kentucky.     Frankfort.     1840. 

Morris,  Robert.     The  History  of  Freemasonry  in  Kentucky. 
Louisville.     1859. 

Parraud,  M.     Histoire  de  Kentucke.     Traduit  de  l'anglois  de 
M.  John  Filson.     Paris.     1785. 

Person,   Wm.     History   of   Fayette   County,   Ky.      Chicago. 
1882. 

Do.    History  of  Bourbon,  Scott,  Harrison,  and  Nicholas  Coun- 
ties, Ky.     Chicago.     1882. 

Pioneer  Life  in  the  West.     Philadelphia.     1858. 
Robertson,  David.     Reports  of  the  Trials  of  Colonel  Aaron 
Burr.     2  vols.     Philadelphia.     1808. 


LIST  OF  KENTUCKY  HISTORIES.  427 

Rafinesque,  C.  S.  Ancient  History,  or  Annals  of  Kentucky. 
Frankfort.     1824. 

Ranck,  George  W.     History  of  Lexington.    Cincinnati.    1872. 

Bedford,  A.  H.  The  History  of  Methodism  in  Kentucky.  3 
vols.     Nashville.     1868. 

Do.     Western  Cavaliers.     Nashville.     1876. 

Robertson,  George.  Scrap  Book  of  Law,  Politics,  Men,  etc. 
Lexington.     1855. 

Smith,  Colonel  James.  An  Account  of  the  Remarkable  Oc- 
currences in  his  Life.     Lexington.     1799. 

Do.     A  Treatise  on  Indian  Wars.     Paris.     1812. 

Smith,  M.  A  Complete  History  of  the  late  American  War. 
Lexington.     1816. 

Spalding,  M.  J.  Sketches  of  the  Life,  Times,  and  Character  of 
the  Right  Reverend  Benedict  Joseph  Flagel.    Louisville.    1852. 

Do.  Sketches  of  the  Early  Catholic  Missions  of  Kentucky. 
Louisville.     1844. 

Taylor,  John.  A  History  of  the  Baptist  Churches.  Frank- 
fort.    1823. 

Toulmiu,  Harry.    A  Description  of  Kentucky.    London.    1 792. 

Voyage  au  Kantoukey  et  sur  les  Bords  du  Genesee.  Paris. 
1821. 

Webb,  Ben.  J.  The  Centenary  of  Catholicity  in  Kentucky. 
Louisville.     1884. 

Wilkinson,  James.  Memoirs  of  my  Own  Times.  3  vols.  Phil- 
adelphia.    1816. 

Williams,  L.  A.,  &  Co.  History  of  the  Ohio  Falls  Cities.  2 
vols.     Cleveland.     1882. 

Withers,  Alexander  S.  Chronicles  of  Border  Warfare.  Clarks- 
burg.    1831. 


INDEX. 


Abolition  of  slavery,  107-199. 
Abolition,  first  political  campaign  for, 

217.     See,  also,  Anti-Slavery . 
Adair,  Governor,  179. 
Adams,  J.  Q.,  speech  of,  on  Kentucky, 

198. 
Admission  of  Kentucky  into  Federal 

Union,  167. 
Alien  and  sedition  acts,  140. 
Alien  and   sedition,   protest   against, 

143. 
Alleghany  Mountains,  effects  of,  14, 

54. 
Allen,  Colonel,  1G0. 
Anderson,  General  R.,  206. 
Anderson,   General  R.,  proclamation 

of,  206. 
Anderson,  Fort,  attack  on,  354. 
Angostura  (Buena  Vista),  battle  of, 

206. 
Anti-slavery,  first  movements  of  par- 
ty, 122,  148.     See,  also,  Abolition. 
Aristocracy,  fear  of,  127,  140. 
Arms,  purchase  of,  in  1861,  246. 
Ashland,  mob  at,  404. 
Augusta,  battle  of,  315. 

Bank  of  Kentucky,  176. 

Bank  of  Louisville,  188. 

Bank  of  the  Commonwealth,  177,  187. 

Banking  system,  origin  of,  149. 

Banks  in  1818,  176. 

Banks  in  1S57,  220. 

Banks,  charters  annulled,  177. 

Banks,  plan  of,  190. 

Banks,  value  of,  to  State,  191. 

Baptists,  first,  in  Kentucky,  118. 

Baptists'  place  in  Kentucky  history, 

157. 
Bardstown,  fight  at,  340. 
Barlow,  Captain,  354. 
Barry,  Colonel  H.  W.,  351. 
Barry,  William  T.,  180. 
Barter,  system  of,  173. 
Beech  Grove,  Fort,  274. 
Bell  and  Everett,  234. 


Benefit  of  clergy,  407. 

Beuham,  General,  206. 

Benton,  M.  M.,  347. 

Blue  Licks,  battle  of,  89. 

Boiling,  R.  R.,  234. 

Boone,  Camp,  258. 

Boone,  Daniel,  explorer,  64. 

Boone  emigrates,  156. 

Boone  seeks  help,  156. 

Boonesborough,  assaidts  on,  74,  78. 

Boonesborough  convention,  69. 

Boonesborough  laws,  69. 

Boonesborough,  plan  of  Fort,  75. 

Boone's  Station,  69. 

Border  State  compromises,  241. 

Bowman,  J.  B.,  361. 

Boyle,  General,  322. 

Boyle,  Judge,  180. 

Bradford,  Colonel  (Dr.)  J.  T.,  315. 

Bragg,  General,  enters  Kentucky,  291- 

294. 
Bragg  at  Perryville,  306. 
Bramlette,  Governor,  337,  345,  350. 
Brandenburg,   Morgan    crosses  Ohio 

river,  341. 
Breckinridge,  John,  233,  234. 
Breckinridge    expelled    from   United 

States  Senate,  273. 
Breckenridge,  Dr.  R.  I.,  351. 
Breckinridge,  William  C.  P.,  vi. 
Browne,  Colonel,  vi.,  351,  354,  407. 
Browne,  Daniel,  245. 
Buckner,  General,  247,  261. 
Buell,  General,  at  Shiloh,  284. 
Buell,  battle  of  Perryville,  306. 
Buell  enters  Louisville,  301. 
Buell,  retreat  of,  300. 
Buell,  retirement  of,  317. 
Buena  Vista,  battle  of,  203. 
Buffalo  trails,  58. 
Bin-bridge,  General,  346,  351,  355. 
Burial  customs,  150. 
Burr,  Aaron,  150,  152. 
Burt,  Major,  340. 
Butler,  General,  110. 
Butler,  Mann,  v. 


430 


INDEX. 


Cemetery,  state,  213. 

Cheatham,  General,  307. 

Chenault,  Colonel,  340. 

Cherokee  Indians,  70. 

Chickasaw  Indians,  81. 

Churchill,  General,  292. 

Cincinnati,  siege  of,  298. 

Civil  government,  struggle  for,  358. 

Civil  War,  attitude  in,  23G. 

Clarke,  George  Rogers,  79,  81. 

Clarke,  as  French  general,  128. 

Clarke,  Judge,  decision  of,  179. 

Clay,  candidate  for  President,  193. 

Clay,  defeat  of,  194. 

Clay,  influence  of,  1SG,  381. 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  217,  218. 

Clay,  Henry,  defense  of  Burr,  153. 

Clay,  Colonel  Henry,  death  of,  210. 

Clay,  Colonel  Henry,  Jr.,  201. 

Cleburne,  General,  192. 

Climate  of  Kentucky,  224. 

Cobb,  Howell,  speech  of,  249. 

Collins,  Lewis,  iv. 

Collins,  R.  H.,  iv.  et  passim. 

Commercial  advance,  22G. 

Commonwealth,  problems  of,  121. 

Constitution,  first,  121. 

Constitution,  important  points,  122. 

Constitution,  first  revision  of,  145. 

Constitution,  second  revision  of,  213. 

Constitution,   difficulty  of    changing, 

21G. 
Constitution,      Federal,      Thirteenth 

Amendment,  3G0. 
Convention,  for  separation,  9G. 
Convention,  general  secession,  102. 
Convention  to  form  a  Constitution, 

107. 
Coombs,  Leslie,  234. 
County  system,  397. 
Court  party,  intent  of,  10G. 
Court,  Supreme,  power  of,  123. 
Courts  of  justice,  early,  112. 
Corydon,  capture  of,  by  Morgan,  341. 
Crittenden,  General,  307. 
Crittenden,  Senator,  238. 
Cumberland  Gap,  285. 

Danvtlle,  convention  at,  102. 

Danville  political  club,  113. 

Davis,  General  J.  C,  318. 

Debt  of  Kentucky  to  Virginia,  1. 

Debts,  power  to  make  limited,  215. 

Democratic  clubs,  126. 

Democratic  party,  position  of,  in  18G0, 

232. 
Depew,  Charles,  employed  by  Genet, 

128. 
Desha,  Governor,  180. 
Divorce,  408. 
Dixon,  Archibald,  217. 
Donelson,  Fort,  277. 


Draft  for  troops,  failure  of,  356. 
Dueling,  403. 
Duke,  General,  v. 
Dunmore,  Lord,  67. 
Durrett,  R.  T.,  426. 
Duval,  Allen,  347. 

East  India  Company,  effect  of,    on 

Virginia,  4. 
Elections,  interference  with,  334,  346. 
Emancipation  convention  of  1850, 231. 
Emancipation  proclamation,  332. 
Emigration  from  Kentucky,  155,  222. 
Erie,  Lake,  battle  of,  165. 
Estell's  Station,  82. 
Evans,  Lewis,  map  of  Kentucky,  61. 
Ewing,  General,  350. 
Explorations  of  Kentucky,  57. 

Fallen  Timbers,  battle  of,  130. 
Falmouth,  fie:ht  at,  317. 
Fayette  County.  81. 
Fecundity  of  Kentucky  people,  223. 
Federal  Congress,  address  to,  i04. 
Federal  Congress,  tax  of,  174. 
Federal  Congress,  troops,  call  for,  242. 
Federal    Congress,  attitude   towards 

slavery,  331. 
Filson,  John,  iv. 
Financial    management    during  civil 

war,  387. 
Fincastle  Countv,  Virginia,  79. 
Finnell,  Adjutant-General,  2G7,  268. 
First  Kentucky  Confederate  brigade, 

376. 
Fitch,  John,  174,  175. 
Floyd,  General,  278. 
Forrett,  General,  353. 
Fortifications,  previous  methods,  75. 
Frankfort,  attack  on,  303. 
Franklin,  abortive  State  of,  94. 
Freedman's  Bureau,  366. 
French  Revolution,  148. 
Fry,  General  Speed,  351. 

Garrard,  268. 

Genet,  Citizen,  127,  128. 

Geological  Survey,  flret,  228. 

German  settlers  in  Virginia,  11. 

Gilbert,  Colonel,  335. 

Oilman,  General,  339. 

Girty,  Simon,  83. 

Gooding,  General,  307. 

Goodloe,  W.  C,  vi. 

Gould,  B.  A.,  372. 

Grant,  General,  at  Paducah,  251. 

Grant,  General,  at  Donelson,  277. 

Green,  Gener?l,  vi. 

Greenup,  Christopher,  114. 

Guerrillas,  325. 

Haldeman,  W.  N.,  271. 


indi:x. 


431 


Hanson,  Colonel,  '258. 
Hardee,  General,  304. 
Harris,  General,  306. 

Harrison,  Colonel,  258. 
Harrison,  General,  159,  192. 
Harrod,  James,  67. 
Harrodsburg,  07. 
Harrodsburg,  assault  on,  73. 
Hawes,  Governor  (secession),  303. 
Hawthorne,  L.  R.,  37S. 
Henderson,  Colonel,  69,  75. 
Henderson  &  Co.,  08. 
Henry,  Fort,  loss  of,  -70. 
Heth,  General,  200,  297. 
Hewitt,  Fayette,  vi. 
Hicks,  Colonel,  253. 
Hines,  Captain  (Judge),  341. 
Holder,  Captain,  83. 
Home  Guards,  261 . 
Houston,  General  Felix,  193. 
Hull's  surrender,  158. 

Illinois,  expedition  to,  79,  103. 

Immigration,  81,  108. 

Immigration,  attitude  of  Kentucky  to, 

396. 
Independence,  spirit  of,  100. 
Indians,  humanity  of,  109. 
Indians,  treaty  with,  98. 
Inglis,  Mary,  captivity,  61. 
Innis,  Henry,  104. 

Jackson,  General  Andrew,  185. 

Jackson,  General  James,  306. 

Jay,  John,  100. 

Jefferson,  Fort,  81. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  81. 

Johnson,  G.  W.,  271. 

Johnson,  Joseph,  361. 

Johnson,  R.  M.,  193. 

Johnston,  General  A.  S.,  108, 193,  261- 

263,  283. 
Johnston,   Colonel  J.   Stoddard,  295, 

320. 
Johnston,  W.  P.,  261. 

Kentucky  Academy,  139. 

Kentucky,  area  of,  24. 

Kentucky,  agricultural  products,  32. 

See,  also,  Appendix. 
Kentucky,  absence  of  Federal  aid  in, 

52 
Kentucky,  buffalo  in,  46. 
Kentucky,  behavior  of  troops,  163. 
Kentucky  coal-beds,  38. 
Kentucky  caverns,  42. 
Kentucky,  civil  law  in,  402. 
Kentucky  contingent  in  Mexican  War, 

201. 
Kentucky,  conditions  at  settlement,  27. 
Kentucky,  dueling  in,  403. 
Kentucky  earthquakes,  44. 

25 


Kentucky,  elevation  of,  24. 
Kentucky,  English  race  not  enfeebled 

in,  23. 
Kentucky  and   Federal   government, 

131. 
Kentucky,  first  Kentuckians,  45. 
Kentucky,  French  explorations,  48. 
Kentucky,  geology  of,  35. 
Kentucky,  health  of  people,  32. 
Kentucky,  Indians  in,  45. 
Kentucky,  immigration  to,  79. 
Kentucky  iron  ores,  38. 
Kentucky  land  system,  49. 
Kentucky,  loss  of  life  in  Civil  War, 

380. 
Kentucky,  mammoth,  41. 
Kentucky,  mountains  of,  26. 
Kentucky  mound  builders,  45. 
Kentucky,  peculiarities  of  origin,  22. 
Kentucky  petroleum,  39. 
Kentucky,  position  of  people  in  1861, 

253. 
Kentucky,  physical  conditions,  24. 
Kentucky  prairie  land,  origin  of,  29. 
Kentucky,  qualities  of  early  people, 

111. 
Kentucky  salt  licks,  41. 
Kentucky  saltpetre,  43. 
Kentucky,  separation  from  Virginia, 

104. 
Kentucky,  strategic  position,  275. 
Kentucky,  sympathy  with  Texas,  200. 
Kentucky  County  divided  from  Fin- 
castle,  73. 
Kentucky,  Mammoth  Cave,  42. 

Lebanon    captured  by  Morgan,  290, 

340. 
Legislature  of  1861,  241,  247. 
Legislature,  Confederate,  251. 
Legislature,   conservative    action  of, 

265. 
Legislature,      intermittent      session, 

272. 
Legislature  repeals  expatriation  acts, 

367. 
Legislature,  resolutions  of  1861,  242. 
Legislature,  session  in  Louisville,  322. 
Lewis,  Colonel,  100. 
Lexington  club,  128. 
Lexington,  business  of,  in  1817,  176. 
Lincoln,  President,  285,  358,  362. 
Lincoln  County,  81. 
Literary  fund,  178. 
Little,  William,  v. 
Lynching,  403. 
Lytle,  General,  306. 

Magoffin,  Governor,  233,  264,  321. 
Major,  S.  I.  M.,  vi. 
Manson,  General,  291,  293. 
Manufactures,  early,  175. 


432 


INDEX. 


Marshall,  H.,  General,  201,  210,  248. 

Marshall,  H.,  Senator,  104,  122,  v. 

Maryland,  21. 

Mason  County,  108. 

Massachusetts,  quarrel  with,  1S5. 

McCarty,  Clinton,  234. 

McCook,  General,  307. 

McKee,  Colonel,  201,  210. 

Measurements  of  men,  373. 

Meigs,  Fort,  164. 

Methodists,  first,  118. 

Methodists,  revival,  147. 

Mexican  War,  202. 

Miami  expedition,  91. 

Michaux,  F.  A.,  175. 

Military  law,  evils  of,  335. 

Mills,  Colouel,  161. 

Mills,  Judge,  ISO. 

Mississippi,  question  of  navigation,  99, 

126. 
Mitchell,  General,  307. 
Monetary  crisis.  1?S7,  189. 
Monetary  crisis  1857,  220. 
Monetary  system,  172. 
Money,  cut,  191. 
Money  for  Civil  War,  263. 
Money,  Spanish,  173. 
Monterey,  battle  of,  203. 
Moore,  Colonel  O.  H.,  340. 
Morgan,  General  George  H.,  313. 
Morgan,  General  John  H.,  210,  258, 

282,  2S8,  2S9,  290,  320,  329,  338, 3-12, 

343. 
Morgan,  Lieutenant  Thomas,  341. 
Mount  Stirling,  338. 

Negko  testimony  in  the  courts,  368. 

Nelson,  General,  248,  273,  291. 

Neutrality  in  Civil  War,  237,  249,  252, 
3S1. 

New  Orleans,  167,  171.  v 

Nicholas,  Colonel  George,  12l. 

North  Carolina  and  State  of  Frank- 
lin, 96. 

Oaths,  degradation  of,  322. 

Ohio,  Indian  fights  in,  109. 

Old  and  new  court,  controversy,  ISO. 

Old    and  new  court,   final  decision, 

182. 
Old  and  new  court,  effects  of  decision, 

183. 
"  Old  and  New,"  magazine  articles  in, 

206. 
Onslow,  Judge,  180. 

Pack  saddle,  use  of,  58. 
Parties,  division  according  to  soil,  232. 
Patriot  (journal),  181. 
Payne,  General  E.  A.,  351, 
Pegrain,  General,  invades  Kentucky, 
339. 


Perryville,  battle  of,  304. 
Fierce,  H.  B.,  Appendix. 
Pioneers,  life  of,  116,  117. 
Point  Pleasant,  battle  of,  67. 
Political  club,  113. 
Political  club,  debates  of,  114,  115. 
Polk,   General   Leonidas,    takes    Co- 
lumbus, 250. 
Population  in  1790,  108. 
Population  in  1S10,  155. 
Powell,  Lazarus  W.,  217. 
Power,  Thomas,  Spanish  agent,  132. 
Presbyterians,  first,  in  Kentucky,  118. 
Proctor,  General  (British),  162. 
Provost  marshal,  321,  333,  348. 
Public  works,  189. 

Qualities  of  early  Kentuckians,  111. 

Raisin,  battle  of,  1C0. 

Reconciliation  in  1815,  361. 

Relief  and  anti-relief  parties,  179. 

Relief  party,  removal  of,  in  1840,  190. 

Religious  condition  of  pioneers,  118. 

Resolutions  of  1798,  141,  and  Appen- 
dix. 

Resolutions  of  1798,  effort  to  repeal, 
146. 

Revolutionary  War,  soldiers  from,  21. 

Richmond,  battle  of,  291. 

Robertson,  Judge,  347. 

Robinson,  Camp  Dick,  248. 

Robinson,  Governor,  321. 

Roman  Catholics,  118. 

Roman  Catholics,  community  in  Nel- 
son County,  119. 

Rosecrans,  General,  338. 

Rowan,  John,  ISO. 

St.  Asaphs,  67. 

St.  Clair's  defeat.  110. 

Salem,  fight  at,  341. 

Sailing,  J.,  59. 

Sanitary  commission,  372. 

Schoepff,  General,  268. 

School  system,  396. 

Scott,  Colonel.  292. 

Scott,  General,  219. 

Sebastian,  Judge,  133,  154. 

Secession  resolutions  of  '98,  144. 

Secession  spirit  of  1790  and  18G1,  107. 

Secession,  Wilkinson's  scheme,  98. 

Separation  from  Virginia,  93,  94. 

Sevier,  Governor,  96. 

Shawanee  Indians,  60. 

Shelby,  Governor,  124,  128. 

Sheridan,  General,  306. 

Sherman,  General  W.  T.,  268. 

Shiloh,  battle,  283. 

Shiloh,  Kentucky  loss,  285. 

Slavery,  abolition  of,  197. 

Slavery,  conditions  of,  19C. 


INDEX. 


433 


Slavery,  effects,  217,  224. 

Slavery,  increase  of,  195. 

Slavery  (anti-),  122,  148. 

Slaves,  enlistment  of,  339. 

Slaves,  inattention  to  value  of,  in  1SC1, 

254. 
Smith,  Captain  James,  04. 
Smith,  General  Kirby,  291,  313. 
Southern  rights  party,  21 12. 
Sovereignty  convention,  240,  270. 
Spain,  treaty  with,  132. 
Spaniards,  possessions  of,  99. 
Spanish  intrigues,  132. 
Speculation  in  1830-1837,  1S8. 
Speed,  Thomas,  113. 
State  guard,  246,  257. 
States  rights  convention,  313. 
Steamboats,  174. 
Stephenson,  General,  313. 
Stone  River,  battle,  338. 

Tax,  Federal,  194. 

Taylor,  General,  201,  203,  213. 

Tecuniseh,  164,  166. 

Texas  annexation,  200. 

Texas,  war  of,  193. 

Thames,  battle  of,  105. 

Thomas,  General,  274,  301. 

Thompson,  Christopher,  ISO. 

Thompson,  E.  P.,  history  by,  258. 

Tilghman,  General,  247,  277. 

Tippecanoe,  battle,  155. 

Tirrill,  General,  306. 

Transylvania  University,  283, 361,  400. 

Troops,  call  for,  264. 

Troops,  organization  of,  2S1. 

Troops,  joining  Bragg,  324. 

United  States  Bank,  187. 

Virginia,  awakening  of,  after  1790, 18. 

Virginia,    claim     on     northwestern 
lands,  53. 

Virginia  compared  with  New  England, 
3. 

Virginia,  character  of  settlers,  8. 

Virginia,  dissolution  of  first  company, 
7. 

Virginia,  education,  16. 

Virginia,  effects  of  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains, 14. 

Virginia,  early  explorations,  57. 
28 


Virginia,  geographical  condition,  9. 
Virginia,  organization  of  society,  14. 
Virginia,  pastors  and  religious  spirit, 

16. 
Virginia,  planting  of,  6. 
Virginia,   population  compared  with 

Massachusetts,  11. 
Virginia,  reasons  for  desiring  western 

colonies,  55. 
Virginia,     separation     of    Kentucky 

from,  93. 
Virginia,  sources  of  population,  11. 
Virginia,  willingness  of,  for  partition, 

102. 

Walker,  Rev.  Thomas,  explorer,  59. 

Wallace,  General,  at  Cincinnati,  299. 

War  of  1812,  158. 

War,  Mexican,  200. 

War,  Civil,  beginning  of,  231. 

War,  Civil,  attitude  in,  236. 

Wayne,  Fort,  relief  of,  159. 

Wayne,  General,  victory  of,  130. 

Ways  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky,  58. 

Webster,  General,  306. 

West,  Edward,  174,  175. 

Whigs,  indecision  on  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, 217. 

Wild  Cat  Mountain,  battle  of,  268. 

Wilder,  General,  battle  of  importance, 
296. 

Wilkinson,  trading  treaty,  101. 

Wilkinson,  General,  forms  secession 
party,  98. 

Wilkinson,  General,  first  trial  of,  137. 

Wilkinson,  General,  second  trial  of, 
139. 

William  and  Mary  College,  17. 

Williams,  John  S.,  201. 

Williams,  John  S.,  at  Cerro  Gordo, 
212. 

Williams,  John  S.,  at  Ivy  Mountain, 
269. 

Winchester,  General,  161. 

Withers,  Colonel,  258. 

Women,  imprisonment  of,  348. 

Wood,  Colonel,  explorer,  59. 

Woolford,  Colonel,  268,  339. 

Wyandotte  Indians,  attack  by,  82. 

Zollicofee,  General,  250,  262,  268, 
274. 


American  Cominontoealtf)Su 

EDITED    BY 

HORACE   E.  SCUDDER. 


A  series  of  volumes  narrating  the  history  of  such 
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"Life  of  Stonewall  Jackson,"  "Life  of  General 
Robert  E.  Lee,"  etc. 

Oregon.  The  Struggle  for  Possession.  By  William 
Barrows,  D.  D. 

Maryland.  By  William  Hand  Browne,  Associate 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

Kentucky.  By  Nathaniel  Southgate  Shaler,  S.  D., 
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IN  PREPARATION. 

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thor of  "  The  Diplomacy  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion." 

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"VIRGINIA." 

Mr.  Cooke  has  made  a  fascinating  volume  —  one  which  it  will 
be  very  difficult  to  surpass  either  in  method  or  interest.  If  all 
the  volumes  of  the  series  ["American  Commonwealths"]  come 
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telling  —  a  very  great  service  will  have  been  done  to  the  reading 
public.  True  historic  insight  appears  through  all  these  pages, 
and  an  earnest  desire  to  do  all  parties  and  religions  perfect  jus- 
tice. The  story  of  the  settlement  of  Virginia  is  told  in  full.  .  .  . 
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an  epoch  which  is  familiar  to  very  few.  —  New  York  Evening  Post. 

No  more  acceptable  writer  could  have  been  selected  to  tell  the 
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thoroughly  informed  in  reference  to  his  subject.  He  writes  from 
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Mr.  Cooke  has  succeeded,  without  going  out  of  the  domain  of 
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"OREGON." 

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has  seldom  been  written.  .  .  .  Careful  research  and  pictorial  skill 
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ested in  the  rapid  march  and  wonderful  development  of  our 
American  civilization  upon  the  Pacific  coast.  —  Springfield  Repub- 
lican. 

There  is  so  much  that  is  new  and  informing  to  the  reading 
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This  work  is  more  than  historical.  It  is  full  of  information 
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his  chapters  are  thrillingly  interesting.  —  Philadelphia  Evening 
Bulletin. 

It  will  take  its  place  as  an  authority  on  the  topics  discussed, 
and  the  people  of  Oregon  cannot  but  be  thankful  that  it  has  been 
written. —  The  Oregonian  (Portland,  Oregon). 

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American  Statesmen. 

A  Series   of  Biographies   of  Men   conspicuous  in   the 
Political  History  of  the  United  States. 

EDITED    BY 

JOHN  T.  MORSE,  Jr. 


The  object  of  this  series  is  not  merely  to  give  a 
number  of  unconnected  narratives  of  men  in  Ameri- 
can political  life,  but  to  produce  books  which  shall, 
when  taken  together,  indicate  the  lines  of  political 
thought  and  development  in  American  history,  — 
books  embodying  in  compact  form  the  result  of  ex- 
tensive study  of  the  many  and  diverse  influences 
which  have  combined  to  shape  the  political  history  of 
our  country. 

The  series  is  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  John  T. 
Morse,  Jr.,  whose  historical  and  biographical  writings 
give  ample  assurance  of  his  special  fitness  for  this 
task.     The  volumes  now  ready  are  as  follows :  — 

John  Quincy  Adams.  '  By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
Alexander  Hamilton.     By  Henry  Cabot  Lodge. 
John  C.  Calhoun.     By  Dr.  H.  von  Holst. 
Andrew  Jackson.     By  Prof.  W.  G.  Sumner. 
John  Randolph.     By  Henry  Adams. 
James  Monroe.     By  Pres.  Daniel  C.  Gilman. 
Thomas  Jefferson.     By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
Daniel  Webster.     By  Henry  Cabot  Lodge. 
Albert  Gallatin.     By  John  Austin  Stevens. 
James  Madison.     By  Sydney  Howard  Gay. 
John  Adams.    By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 

IN  PREPARATION. 
Henry  Clay.     By  Hon.  Carl  Schurz. 
Samuel  Adams.     By  John  Fiske. 
Martin  Van  Buren.     By  Hon.  William  Dorsheimer. 

Others  to  be  announced  hereafter.  Each  biography 
occupies  a  sinplc  volume,  i6mo,  gilt  top.    Price  $1.25. 


ESTIMATES    OF   THE    PRESS. 


"JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS." 
That  Mr.  Morse's  conclusions  will  in  the  main  be  those  of 
posterity  we  have  very  little  doubt,  and  he  has  set  an  admirable 
example  to  his  coadjutors  in  respect  of  interesting  narrative, 
just  proportion,  and  judicial  candor.  — New  York  Evening  Post. 
The  work  is  done  in  a  vigorous  and  every  way  admirable 
manner,  which  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  touches  the  high  mark 
of  impartial  but  appreciative  history.  —  Independent  (New 
York). 

Mr.  Morse  has  written  closely,  compactly,  intelligently,  fear- 
lessly, honestly.  —  New  York  Times. 


"ALEXANDER   HAMILTON." 

The  biography  of  Mr.  Lodge  is  calm  and  dignified  through- 
out. He  has  the  virtue  —  rare  indeed  among  biographers  — 
of  impartiality.  He  has  done  his  work  with  conscientious  care, 
and  the  biography  of  Hamilton  is  a  book  which  cannot  have 
too  many  readers.  It  is  more  than  a  biography  ;  it  is  a  study 
in  the  science  of  government.  —  St.  Paul  Pioneer-Press. 

Mr.  Lodge's  portrait  of  Hamilton  is  carefully,  impartially,  and 
skilfully  painted,  and  his  study  of  the  epoch  in  which  Hamil- 
ton was  dominant  is  luminous  and  comprehensive. — Philadel- 
phia North  A?nerican. 


"JOHN   C.   CALHOUN." 

Dr.  von  Hoist's  volume  is  certainly  not  the  least  valuable  of 
the  three  that  constitute  the  series,  so  far  as  it  has  at  present 
progressed  ;  and  of  the  series,  as  a  whole,  it  may  be  said  that 
if  the  succeeding  volumes  are  of  the  same  high  order  of  excel- 
lence as  those  that  have  already  appeared  they  will  serve  a 
valuable  purpose,  not  only  as  exemplifying  American  statesmen, 
but  as  a  means  of  training  in  statesmanship.  —  Boston  Journal. 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  skill  with  which  the  political  career 
of  the  great  South  Carolinian  is  portrayed  in  these  pages.  The 
work  is  superior  to  any  other  number  of  the  series  thus  far,  and 
we  do  not  think  it  can  be  surpassed  by  any  of  those  that  are  to 
come.  The  whole  discussion  in  relation  to  Calhoun's  position 
is  eminently  philosophical  and  just. —  The  Dial  (Chicago). 


"ANDREW  JACKSON." 

Prof.  Sumner  has  written  what  we  think  may  rightly  be  called 
an  impartial  life  of  perhaps  the  strongest  personality  that  was 
ever  elected  President,  and  yet  he  has  not  made  his  story  dull. 
He  has,  ...  all  in  all,  made  the  justest  long  estimate  of  Jackson 
that  has  had  itself  put  between  the  covers  of  a  book.  —  New 
York  Times. 

Professor  Sumner's  account  and  estimate  of  Andrew  Jackson 
as  a  statesman  is  one  of  the  most  masterly  monographs  that  we 
have  ever  had  the  pleasure  of  reading.  It  is  calm  and  clear.  — 
Providence  Journal. 

A  book  of  exceptional  value  to  students  of  politics.  —  Con' 
gregationalist  (Boston). 

"JOHN    RANDOLPH." 

The  book  has  been  to  me  intensely  interesting.  I  have  be-'  i 
especially  struck  by  the  literary  and  historical  merit  of  the  first 
two  chapters  :  they  are  terse  ;  full  of  picture,  suggestion,  life  ; 
with  fine  strokes  of  satire  and  humor.  The  book  is  rich  in  new 
facts  and  side  lights,  and  is  worthy  of  its  place  in  the  already 
brilliant  series  of  monographs  on  American  Statesmen.  I 
heartily  congratulate  Mr.  Morse  over  the  solid  success  the  series 
has  already  won.  —  Prof.  Moses  Coit  Tyler. 

Remarkably  interesting.  .  .  .  The  biography  has  all  the  ele- 
ments of  popularity,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  widely  read.  —  Hart' 
ford  Courant. 

A  most  lively  and  interesting  volume.  —  New  York  Tribune. 


"JAMES   MONROE." 

In  clearness  of  style,  and  in  all  points  of  literary  workman- 
ship, from  cover  to  cover,  the  volume  is  well-nigh  perfect. 
There  is  also  a  calmness  of  judgment,  a  correctness  of  taste, 
and  an  absence  of  partisanship  which  are  too  frequently  want- 
ing in  biographies,  and  especially  in  political  biographies.  — 
American  Literary  Churchman  (Baltimore). 

At  last  the  character  of  this  distinguished  statesman  has  re- 
ceived justice  at  the  hands  of  the  historian.  His  biographer 
has  written  the  most  satisfactory  account  of  the  life  of  this  il- 
lustrious man  which  has  been  given  the  country. — San  Fran- 
cisco  Bulletin. 

A  volume  which  gives  an  excellent  and  well-proportioned 
outline  of  the  eminent  statesman's  career.  —  Boston  Journal. 


"THOMAS   JEFFERSON." 

The  requirements  of  political  biography  have  rarely  been  met  I 
so  satisfactorily  as  in  this  memoir  of  Jefferson.  .  .  .  Mr.  Morse 
has  shown  himself  amply  competent  for  the  task,  and  he  has 
given  us  a  singularly  just,  well-proportioned  and  interesting 
sketch  of  the  personal  and  political  career  of  the  author  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  —  Boston  Journal. 

The  book  is  exceedingly  interesting  and  readable.  The  at- 
tention of  the  reader  is  strongly  seized  at  once,  and  he  is  carried 
along  in  spite  of  himself,  sometimes  protesting,  sometimes 
doubting,  yet  unable  to  lay  the  book  down.  —  Chicago  Standard. 


"DANIEL   WEBSTER." 

The  massiveness  of  Mr.  Lodge's  subject,  the  compass  and 
high  significance  of  many  of  the  single  themes  with  which  he 
has  had  to  labor,  and  the  voluminous  amount  of  the  material 
requiring  his  critical  study  would  seem  to  have  demanded  a 
singular  skill  of  compression  in  bringing  the  results  within  this 
small  volume.  Yet  the  task  has  been  achieved  ably,  admirably, 
and  faithfully.  —  Boston  Transcript. 

It  will  be  read  by  students  of  history  ;  it  will  be  invaluable  as 
a  work  of  reference  ;  it  will  be  an  authority  as  regards  matters 
of  fact  and  criticism  ;  it  hits  the  key-note  of  Webster's  durable 
and  ever-growing  fame  ;  it  is  adequate,  calm,  impartial ;  it  is 
admirable.  —  Philadelphia  Press. 


"ALBERT  GALLATIN." 
The  greater  part  of  Mr.  Stevens's  frank,  simple,  and  straight- 
forward book  is  devoted  to  a  careful  narrative  of  Gallatin's 
financial  administration,  and  next  in  importance  to  this  is  the 
excellent  chapter  devoted  to  Gallatin's  brilliant  diplomatic  ser- 
vices. The  study  of  an  honorable  and  attractive  character  is 
completed  by  some  interesting  pages  of  personal  and  domestic 
history.  —  New  York  Tribune. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  carefully  prepared  of  these  very  valu- 
able volumes,  .  .  .  abounding  in  information  not  so  readily  ac- 
cessible as  is  that  pertaining  to  men  more  often  treated  by  the 
biographer.  .  .  .  The  whole  work  covers  a  ground  which  the 
political  student  cannot  afford  to  neglect.  —  Boston  Correspon- 
dent Hartford  Courant.      f  ^     ^    f    Q   #    *-^ 

*»*  For  sate  by  atl  Booksellers.  Sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of 
price  by  the  Publishers, 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY.  §&ston. 


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